


Suffocating Symphony

by NeonCandies



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: F/M, M/M, My first time writing for this fandom, Pining, Poor Life Choices, Post-Kingdom Hearts III, Sora being reckless, Xion is the voice of reason, that means Roxas too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2019-10-29 07:31:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 42,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17803700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeonCandies/pseuds/NeonCandies
Summary: After all that has happened, Sora is eager to find time to kick back and relax. Too bad Riku's making that especially hard with how overprotective he's being. Sora's fed up with the constant mother henning and turns out he's not the only one trying to relax! So without thinking things through, he, Xion, and Roxas decide the best way to get some relaxation is to run away and hide in one of the many world's Sora's been to. It's a great idea, Sora just never said it was a smart one.





	1. Three Musketeers

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Evenin'. As goes with me whenever I write a new fic for a fandom/ship, the first chapter is always a test run and me getting a feel for the environment and characters. I've personally never written a Kingdom Hearts fic before, so I'm pensive but also excited to write this. Plot isn't one of my bests but I figured it could always be worse. I apologize beforehand if they're ooc or wording is a little weird. Hopefully if I continue, that gets fixed along the way. Anyways thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you enjoy. Comments are appreciated but aren't demanded.

Sora crept as quietly as he could through the winding halls of Yen Sid’s tower. He was halfway convinced that the entire building was constantly shifting, the halls changing and doors leading to different places than they originally started at. That was the only explanation Sora had for his current predicament. He’d been tiptoeing for the better part of an hour now, maybe more. Or perhaps it’d only been several minutes and Sora was just over exaggerating. But honestly at this point he didn’t care. He just wanted out of this labyrinth of a tower.

There was a reason as to why Sora was trying to sneak away in the middle of the night. After his little “disappearing act” when he’d saved Kairi, Sora was under what he’d call “house arrest”. Never mind the fact that this place wasn’t his house and he was technically free to come and go as he pleased, Sora physically couldn’t go anywhere, not without a certain Keyblade Master tailing him like an overbearing bodyguard.

Riku had found him floating in the endless expanse of the Final World. It had been surprising to see Riku there. At first Sora had thought he was a hallucination. But even a figment of his imagination couldn’t conjure up the angry tug on his ear. Riku scolding him just proved that it really was Riku since Sora would **never** dream about being reprimanded.

After that Sora was taken to Yen Sid’s tower in order to make sure there was no lingering… Effects from what he had just gone through. That had been nearly two weeks ago. And almost every moment of the day Riku was somewhere near Sora. He understood that Riku was worried he’d disappear again, but this was pushing it! Riku didn’t cling to Kairi this much, so why was he so adamant to not leave Sora alone? Didn’t he have anything else to do to occupy his time?

The answer to that seemed like a no, so Sora had been left with no choice but to flee away in the middle of the night. He was going to spend some time far from Riku. Sora needed breathing room and he just wanted to relax! He couldn’t exactly do that here, not with Riku acting the way he was. You’d think he’d find the hypocrisy in his actions on trying to keep Sora from disappearing.

Sora pushed those thoughts aside and instead focused on the task at hand. If he was correct, the door leading outside should be down the next hall. Sora grinned as he rounded the corner and spotted the door to his salvation. He picked up the pace, throwing caution to the wind as he scurried towards the door.

Sora held his breath and only started breathing again when he successfully slipped through the door. He’d made it! He was free!

“Sora?”

Or maybe not.

Sora jumped and whipped around, staring with wide eyes. At the end of the small courtyard that gave way to stairs leading from Yen Sid’s tower was Xion and Roxas. They had been sitting on the steps and had twisted in order to look towards him, both wearing twin looks of confusion.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, Sora slumped against the door. “Oh good, it’s just you two.”

Xion and Roxas had been living at Yen Sid’s tower since they had nowhere else to go. It wasn’t just them either. A few of the former Organization members with no home took to staying here as well. Sora had been delighted to see that they weren’t being shunned because of what they did in the past. To Sora, everyone deserved a second chance, even Organization members.

“What are you doing up so late?” Roxas asked. He pushed up from the steps and turned so he could look at Sora without the strain.

“I could ask you the same thing.” Sora replied with a grin.

Roxas pursed his lips and glanced at Xion. She offered a small smile and stood in order to also face Sora. “Roxas needed to talk about something. I was trying to help him.”

Sora’s smile seemed to deflate a bit at that, “Oh. Is there anything I could do to help?”

The blond shrugged, “Maybe? Honestly it’s kind of my own problem. But don’t worry about it right now. You seem to have more on your mind than I do.”

Laughing, Sora rubbed a hand over his face. “That obvious?”

“Well we have been living here, so we’ve kind of seen how Riku’s being.” Xion inclined her head to Sora and offered a sympathetic smile.

“Ugh! Don’t even get me started!!” Sora groaned, “Riku’s being a total mother hen! And it’s suffocating!!”

Roxas cocked his hip to the side and crossed his arms over his chest. “Is that why you’re running away?”

Sora should’ve been surprised at how easy he’d been to read but he liked to think that Roxas was only able to tell because he’d spent time in Sora’s heart. And if that was the case then there was no point in denying it. So Sora simply shrugged and offered a grin.

“If Riku’s going to try and keep babying me, then I’m going to prove to him that I’m fine and I don’t need constant surveillance.”

Roxas shook his head and chuckled softly, “Just the kind of recklessness I’d expect of you, Sora.” With a nod Roxas moved over to him and clasped a hand to Sora’s shoulder. “Alright then, I’m coming with you.”

“Wait what?!” Both Xion and Sora blurted out simultaneously.

Xion frowned and walked to stand beside Sora and Roxas. She looked towards the blond, “Roxas. Avoiding the problem isn’t going to make it go away…”

“I’m not avoiding the problem. I’m simply giving myself some space to think about it. Maybe I need to take my mind off of it for a bit. And Sora just presented the perfect opportunity.” Roxas stated matter-of-factly.

Sora let out a cheer, slinging his arm around Roxas’ neck and pulling him close. “Alright! Two runaways!” He paused, glancing at Xion and seeming to smile wider. He extended a hand to her, “We could always use one more.”

“Three musketeers?” Roxas mirrored Sora in extending his hand to Xion.

She looked between the two, apprehension clear on her face. Then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. On her exhale Xion opened her eyes, resolve written clearly in the way she smiled.

With a laugh Xion took both of their hands, “Three musketeers it is.”

“Yes! Then if we’re the musketeers, we’ve got to say the oath!” Sora declared excitedly.

Roxas glanced behind them towards Yen Sid’s tower, frowning slightly. “Maybe we should wait till we’re away from here? We don’t want to get caught escaping.”

Sora let out a hiss and winced, clearly forgetting the goal of his mission in all the excitement of getting two more companions. He nodded, slinging his free arm around Xion’s shoulder and herding the two of them towards the stairs.

“Let’s go! I’ve got the perfect world in mind for us to run to!”

Xion blinked, “Oh? Where to?”

“It’s a secret!”

The trio laughed, somehow managing to get down the stairs without injury. As they went, Sora hummed a nameless tune and swayed the three of them from side to side. His enthusiasm had increased greatly thanks to Xion and Roxas. He’d been a little disappointed that he’d be running away alone, but it wasn’t like he could ask anyone to join him! They’d either scold him for his childish actions or try and get him to confront Riku about it. And Sora wasn’t really in the mood to talk to Riku about what he was doing. But then again maybe he was being like Roxas. The blond seemed to be avoiding something as well, taking this little “trip” to get his mind off of it. Maybe Sora’s spontaneous decision could help the both of them come to a conclusion on what they needed to do.

“So, did you at least leave a note so Riku wouldn’t think you were kidnapped?” Roxas asked once they reached one of the two Gummi Ships parked in the wide cobblestone courtyard.

Sora grimaced, that being enough of an answer for Xion and Roxas. They laughed, Roxas reaching up in order to ruffle Sora’s hair. It was an act that reminded Sora of Axel, the tall redhead often ruffling the hair of those shorter than him. Which was a lot of people since he was so freakishly tall.

“Ok. How about we call King Mickey? He’s bound to be the most understanding of you needing space.”

“And he’s probably the first person Riku will go to when he finds you gone.” Xion added.

Sora climbed up the ramp leading to the ship, pressing his hand against a panel to the side. It let out a beep and opened, the lights in the small ship turning on. “Do I really have to?”

Roxas quirked a brow, “We could always leave Riku a message then.”

The brunet was quick to whip around, bright blue eyes wide. He shook his head fiercely, hands coming up to wave in protest as well. “No way! Riku’s a really light sleeper!! If we message him now and say I’m running away, he’ll practically jump out a window just to get here faster!”

If it was any other person being told that, they might doubt it. But this was Xion and Roxas. They knew firsthand how single-minded and protective Riku could be when it came to Sora. He was a force to be reckoned with, especially when Sora and his safety were a factor.

Xion sighed and placed her hands on her hips. With a tilt of her head she looked back to the tower. “Then we’ll just message the King. But we can do that once we’re away from Yen Sid’s tower. At least that way we have a head start if Riku tries to follow?”

Sora instantly brightened and he nodded his head. “Yeah! Come and sit down and I’ll prepare for takeoff!”

Once Sora had disappeared inside the ship, Roxas reached out and took Xion’s arm. He leaned close, “I’ll distract Sora while you send a message to Axel. I don’t want to rely on Riku being rational enough to actually message Mickey in order to ask where Sora is.”

Xion blinked but nodded in understanding. With that Roxas smiled and patted her shoulder, following Sora into the ship. Xion quickly slipped out her Gummi Phone, debating what to say for several moments before typing out a quick message and sending it to Axel.

Sora had waited till everyone was strapped in before preparing for takeoff. There was no quiet way to fly a Gummi Ship, not unless it was designed to be silent. But the bright red and yellow ship was anything but silent. It rumbled to life and Sora held his breath the entire time. He could only hope Riku’s room was far enough away that he couldn’t hear the ship leaving.

It seemed the trio were all apprehensive at being caught. They collectively let out a sigh the moment they were floating in the colourful cosmos. Sora let go of the tight grip he had on the controls and slumped in his chair.

“Step one down,” He exhaled shakily.

“Next is the King.” Xion said, sounding just as breathless.

Sora grunted and dug into his pocket for his phone. He managed to yank it out with only a minor struggle. Then it was a few more seconds of navigating before Sora had a call to the King. At this point Xion and Roxas had unbuckled from their seats and were now standing on either side of Sora’s.

The phone connected with a click, Mickey’s familiar face filling the screen. He looked slightly confused at the call, though a smile still pulled at the corners of his mouth.

“Sora?”

“Hello your majesty!” Sora grinned, relaxing slightly at the sight of his friend. “Ok so before anything, I just want to say that I’m fine and that nothing’s wrong. Well nothing life threatening anyways.”

Mickey laughed and his smile widened, “While I’m glad nothing serious is wrong, I’m still a little worried. It’s rather late at Yen Sid’s tower, isn’t it?”

Sora nodded, “Yeah. But I had to call you because I needed someone to know that I wasn’t kidnapped.” At the King’s concerned face, Sora was quick to scramble for an explanation. “I’m running away! But not like permanently! I’ll still have my Gummi Phone on me in case you need to contact me! But I really just needed to get away from Riku! He’s acting like I’ll disappear at any moment if he isn’t with me!”

Mickey took a moment to process this. “So your solution to this is to… Disappear?”

“Yes!”

Roxas rolled his eyes and smacked his forehead, groaning. He leaned down and shoved himself into Sora’s space so he could be seen on screen.

Mickey seemed surprised at his appearance, “Roxas?”

Roxas offered a nod, “Hello your majesty. I know what Sora’s doing is reckless and clearly shows he hasn’t thought things through,” Roxas ignored the indignant yell from Sora, momentarily shoving his face out of the way so he was the sole focus. “But you don’t have to worry. Xion and I will be accompanying Sora to make sure he stays out of trouble.”

Mickey seemed concerned still, yet he wasn’t able to respond before Sora was shoving back at Roxas. The two pushed at each other, bickering incessantly like children. They didn’t even seem to notice Xion taking the Gummi Phone from Sora’s hand. She smiled apologetically at the King, momentarily glancing at the two wrestling boys for a moment.

“Don’t worry, I promise to keep an eye on them. And I’ll send updates as well through my own phone. And if not me then Roxas or Sora will.” She smiled warmly, the gesture returned by Mickey.

“Well alright. But make sure to call if something goes wrong. Does Sora know the spell Donald uses to keep the order?”

Xion blinked, glancing at Sora and Roxas. “Sora? Do you know how to keep the order like Donald does?”

The two stopped elbowing each other, two sets of blue eyes focusing on Xion. They had a handful of the other’s hair in their grips and had been in the middle of shoving at each other’s face, but Xion’s question put a pause in their match.

Sora’s brows furrowed and he let out a long sound of thought. “Nnnn… Yes?”

Xion didn’t seem fully convinced and from a glance, neither did Mickey. She offered a small smile to the King, “It’s ok, I remember it. I’ll make sure to keep the order wherever we go.”

“Well alright. Please be as careful as you can be!”

“We will!” The three of them said simultaneously.

With that Mickey hung up, leaving the ship in silence. Xion offered Sora his phone back and he stuffed it into his pocket. Roxas and Sora no longer seemed interested in wrestling with each other, Roxas instead casually leaning against Sora’s chair with his arms crossed over his chest.

Xion bit back a sigh, smiling warmly at the two. Seeing them able to interact side-by-side always managed to make her happy. It showed that they really were two different people, just as her and Sora were two different people. She and Roxas may be connected to Sora unlike any other, but that didn’t mean they weren’t their own people. And times like these really highlighted that.

“So…” Xion started, smiling wider at the curious looks she received. “What is this “oath” we have to say?”

Sora’s face lit up in a brilliant grin and he stuck out his hand so that his palm was facing towards the ground. “It’s something I learned from a world I went to! The musketeers are a group of guards that fight for justice! They have an oath that they go by and it’s something I really admire!”

Roxas smiled, reaching out and placing his hand over Sora’s. Xion followed suit, putting her hand over Roxas’. The two of them then looked at Sora for further explanation.

“Ok! After we have our hands in place, one of us will say “ _all for one_ ” and then all three of us will say “ _and one for all_ ”! Then we throw our hands up in the air!”

Roxas grinned and let out a small laugh. “I can see why you like their oath. It’s a good one.”

Xion nodded, “I agree. Could I do the honors?”

At the nod she received, Xion smiled wider and looked down at their hands. She took a deep breath, “All for one…”

“And one for all!” The three of them cheered, their hands flying into the air. Their laughter rang around the ship, causing it to hum with power. With their little group oath now solidified, Xion and Roxas returned to their seats.

Roxas leaned back in his chair, kicking his feet up so they were hanging over the arm. “Alright Sora. Where to now?”

Jumping up from his seat, Sora held out his hand. Starlight appeared in a shower of light, perfectly emulating its name. Sora had taken to using this Keyblade far more ever since the fight in the Keyblade Graveyard. For him it was a reminder of the help he had received and the strength of the past. He wielded it to honor those that had fallen.

Sora pointed the Keyblade forward, a beam shooting from the tip and a swirling blue portal opening up in front of them. With a grin Sora dissipated his Keyblade and sat back down.

He took the controls and shoved them forward, his excitement dripping through his voice. “Let’s go!”


	2. Pirate's Life For Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keep an eye out for stray crabs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Here's chapter 2! Hate to say it but don't expect super frequent updates. I am inconsistent and I have two other fics I'm working on :'D Not much to say for this chapter other than, as the chapter title dictates, I wanted to write some pirate outfits for Xion and Roxas. You can surmise that this entire fic is self-indulgence.

Sora groaned, gradually coming to in short bursts. The young Keyblade wielder was laying on his stomach, the ground beneath him soft and grainy. He tried opening his eyes and instantly regretting it as harsh light blinded him. Groaning again, Sora turned his head in order to try and block out the light. However the mouthful of sand was unexpected, causing him to launch back and sputter. He sputtered aggressively, shaking his head and scattering the small particles clinging to him.

When he no longer felt as if he was swallowing sand, Sora reached up and felt the top of his head. He frowned at the lack of a hat before looking around. Sora gasped as he spotted the familiar hat near the edge of the water, the ocean threatening to take it back into its depths. Scrambling to get the grey tricorn hat, Sora plopped it on his head after shaking it free of sand. Satisfied, Sora began dusting off his coat and shaking off as much sand as he could.

Behind him he heard duel groans and confused mumbling. Sora spun around, grinning at the sight of Xion and Roxas sitting up.

“Where are we?” Xion mumbled, rubbing sand off her face.

Sora spread his arms wide, the ocean crashing behind him and the familiar sea birds calling out amongst the wind. Behind him the sun was beginning to rise, glittering off the ocean and reflecting against Sora’s back, illuminating him in a bright fiery orange glow.

“Welcome to the Caribbean!”

The two former Organization members stared between Sora and the scenery with wide eyes. Xion was the first to break the silence, gasping and rushing to Sora’s side.

“Sora! Your outfit! You look so amazing!”

Sora grinned, showing off his gold tooth. With a flourish Sora removed his hat and bowed at the waist. “Well thank ye kindly, mistress Xion. I find ye also look amazing!”

At that Xion looked down at her outfit, letting out a sound of awe. She was wearing a thick, dark grey coat that had faint silver Keyblade designs etched into the sleeves and the bottom skirt. Underneath that she wore high-waisted black breeches and knee high boots laced to the top. A belt slung around her waist and attached to it was a silver chain that led to what appeared to be a pocket watch; either that or a compass designed to look like a pocket watch. As for her shirt, Xion wore a cream coloured blouse that had a ring of decorative ruffles around her collar. Her hair was hidden by a grey bandanna, the colour matching her coat and a little symbol printed on it. In a similar silver as the Keyblades on her coat was a little crown, looking eerily similar to the one adorning Sora’s hat.

Spinning around and watching her coat bellow out behind her, Xion giggled and covered her mouth in excitement. “Oh wow! This is so amazing!” She turned to Roxas, grinning at him. “And Roxas! You too! You look so cool!”

Roxas was wearing a grey shirt with bishop styled sleeves, the buttons on the wrists a shining silver. Wrapped around his neck was a tattered, slightly dirty cravat, a pin in the center of it being a silver crown lined in gold. He also wore a pair of high-waisted pants, though unlike Sora and Xion, he did not have a coat to accompany them, nor did he have a vest. Instead Roxas had a pair of black suspenders that crisscrossed over his back. His pants were tucked into a pair of knee high boots, short heels in the back giving him a slight boost in height.

Adjusting his suspenders and flicking off some wayward sand, Roxas smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. “Yeah, I bet I make this look good. Not looking too bad yourself, Xion. You too Sora.”

Sora rolled his eyes and grinned, “Ok ok, now that we’re done marveling over how cool and piratey we look, it’s time we figure out where we are!” Sora placed his hands on his hips, looking up and down the long stretch of beach on either side of them. He spun towards the sea, still maintaining the same pose. In the distance they could see only one or two small islands, everything else was just hazy sea.

“Alright! So I have no clue what island we’re on!” Sora declared, turning towards the jungle located further up the beach. “But if we’re going to get anywhere, we’ll have to find a boat!”

Roxas and Xion fell into step besides Sora, looking around at their environment as they explored. Roxas seemed to have to take extra care in stepping over things, his heels making him sink into the sand. He grumbled slightly, only able to move as fast as the others when the sand gave way to denser ground.

“And just where are we going to find a boat the further inland we go?” Roxas asked, pushing away some dense foliage.

Sora shrugged, ducking under a low palm tree. “I don’t know! I’m hoping we stumble across a hidden cave with a ship inside or something. That’s how I found my last ship.”

“Then why aren’t we on your last ship?”

“It turned into crabs.”

Xion and Roxas shared a look, Roxas mouthing out the word “crab” in confusion. Xion shrugged and the two looked forward once again.

The three explored the island, the silence only broken up by Sora teaching Xion and Roxas the few sea shanties he knew. Even though they were sweating an hour in to their exploration, their spirits were high and they were all laughing and singing.

Already Sora was feeling the relaxing effect this world had on him. Sure there were other worlds that were probably more peaceful, but Sora also wanted to have fun! And since Xion and Roxas were here as well, he wanted to show them one of his favourite worlds. Maybe later they’d go to a different world. Sora wanted to show the two all kinds of fun places!

“So,” Roxas began after a while. They were currently having a break, the trio sitting in the shade of a palm tree. Well Roxas and Xion were sitting, Sora was laying on his back. “What exactly did those crabs look like again?”

Sora hummed, furrowing his brows but keeping his eyes closed. “Well they were small and white all over. Or maybe they were a really light grey? They looked kind of fuzzy too.”

“How small would you say they were? Like fit in the size of your hand Jiminy Cricket small? Or size of your foot small?”

Now Sora had his eyes open and was looking at Roxas. The blond wasn’t staring at him, instead he was gazing directly ahead of them. “Uh… Size of your hands small. Why?”

Roxas lifted a hand and pointed, Xion and Sora following with their eyes. “Because a small white crab has been staring at us for like ten minutes and it hasn’t moved once.”

That got Sora to sit up real quick. His eyes locked on to the little white crab perched on a rock. It was elevated high enough that it almost gave the appearance it was trying to be noticed. The moment it detected all three Keyblade wielders looking at it, the crab darted off the rock and into a section of the jungle.

Sora rushed to stand, kicking up sand as he sprinted after the little crustacean. “Quick! Don’t lose sight of it!”

Xion and Roxas didn’t have a chance to protest. Trusting Sora they took off after the crab. It was hard to keep track of the little thing as it was darting under bushes and through cracks in boulders. At one point Roxas gave up running and instead launched himself towards the top of palm trees, keeping track of it from a higher vantage point.

“It’s heading right!” Roxas called, darting off after it.

Xion and Sora skidded to follow, Sora flipping over a fallen tree while Xion slid under it. Even though they were moving as fast as they could, they still couldn’t catch up to the little crab. Sora never remembered them being this fast!

Suddenly they emerged into a clearing, a large cliff face towering over them. Roxas gracefully dropped down besides Sora and Xion, all three of them breathing hard as they tried to locate the little creature.

Suddenly Xion gasped and pointed, “There!” She lurched forward towards the rock formation.

It was then the two boys noticed the little white crab slipping into a crack they hadn’t noticed before. As they drew closer it became apparent that the crack was just wide enough for them to slide through, though it’d be a tight squeeze.

Without any prompting Roxas took charge, telling the others to wait there while he crawled through. He grunted as the rocks scrapped against his front and back the further in he went. It was almost a full minute before they finally heard Roxas’ voice echoing back, telling them it was safe for them to follow.

When Sora and Xion slipped in after Roxas, they emerged into a rather wide cavern. The walls curved up into a dome and the roof was crumbling, vines and sunlight spilling through. The ground beneath them branched out a couple feet before it gave way to a drop. There was barely any room for them all to stand side-by-side. Almost on instinct Sora reached out to grasp Roxas’ wrist, Xion following suit and holding onto Sora’s hand.

“I saw it drop over the edge,” Roxas explained as they all looked past the lip of the drop.

It went down for quite a while and at the bottom was calm water, small ripples barely causing a disturbance. It was hard to see how deep the water was but the occasional flashes in the water led the trio to believe there were fish down there. So hopefully it was deep enough that diving wouldn’t hurt?

“Well!” Sora grinned, readjusting his and Xion’s hands so that they were all linked at the arms instead, “We’re not going to get anywhere just standing here!”

Sharing a look, the three of them all nodded before they took off running. As a group they leapt off the cliff and fell towards the water. Wind rushed past them and in a moment they were plunged below the icy depths.

As they broke the surface they let go of each other in order to focus on staying afloat. Sora sputtered, his teeth instantly clacking together as the cold hit him. Xion and Roxas seemed to be fairing no better, Roxas’ mouth pulled into a grimace and his jaw clenched tight so his teeth wouldn’t clack.

“A-ah geez! The water’s a lot colder in here than outside!” The brunette complained.

Xion nodded, looking up towards the roof of the cave. “That’s bec-cause it doesn’t seem to get much sunlight down h-here.”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s cold or not,” Roxas stated, “Remember we’ve got a crab to find. Everyone stick close and try to find where it went. If you spot it, point it out so we all can go after it.”

“Got it!” The other two nodded at the orders and took a large breath before diving under the water.

The saltwater stung Sora’s eyes in a way that was familiar, the boy having grown up on an island. He was used to the slight pain and it wasn’t long till he no longer felt it. Roxas and Xion also seemed used to it, though that shouldn’t have been possible, but once again Sora chocked it up to the connection and memories he shared with them.

The little ecosystem had chunks of broken barrels, coral, fish of all colours, and an abundance of rocky formations. It was hard to spot a small white crab when the sandy bottom was also a similar colour. Not only was it difficult to spot the crab, but there were frequent moments where one of them would have to swim to the surface for air.

It was a while before they made it to the other edge of the pool, a rather ominous tunnel peeking from behind an outcropping of rocks and seaweed. Xion was the first to spot it, waving her hands until she had both boy’s attention. She then pointed towards it, tilting her head and shrugging.

Roxas gestured towards the surface and only started speaking when they were no longer panting. “Let’s explore the tunnel. I can’t find the crab anywhere else, so our best bet is there.”

“How far do you think the tunnel is?” Xion asked, wiping her face with the back of her hand despite it not doing much.

“Who knows? Better take a deep breath.” Sora’s grin was returned by his two companions.

With a nod the three of them inhaled as deep as they could before they dived down and headed for the tunnel. It was just big enough for them to comfortably slip in one at a time, which thankfully meant no scraping against the walls.

The tunnel wound around for quite a bit, dipping up and down and twisting backwards as well. Just when Sora thought they were going to run out of air, the tunnel opened up to a wide cavern. Sora and his companions made a direct beeline for the surface. His lungs ached and his throat felt tight. The moment his head breached he was gasping in sweet relief. Beside him both Xion and Roxas were the same way.

“Holy crap!” Roxas gasped, pushing his drenched hair out of his face. He was staring at something and once Xion and Sora turned to look, they too let out their own exclamations of awe.

Floating in front of them at the lip of a low hanging cave was a ship! It was slightly smaller than the one’s Sora had last time, yet the sloop design was common enough that Sora knew it was a very fast ship.

The wood was a deep cherry red and the sails were as black as night. It was small and beautiful, perfect for the three of them. From where they were the name of the boat was visible, brilliant gold letters standing out in stark contrast to the wood. “ _Kingdom Keeper_ ”.

“Is this… Our ship?” Roxas whispered.

Xion frowned, “Maybe. But isn’t it a little too convenient? Sora said he found his last ship in a cave as well.”

Sora grinned and laughed, “Well what are we waiting for? If my hunch is correct, then the white crab led us here on purpose! And that means that Calypso is the one giving us the ship! She’s the one who gave me a ship last time as well!”

“Calypso?”

“The Goddess of the Sea!” And without hesitation Sora began paddling towards the ship.

Xion and Roxas shared another bewildered look. They were unable to keep small smiles from forming, Xion chuckling and shaking her head fondly. “That’s Sora. Charming just about everyone into helping him.”

“Even Goddesses it seems.” Roxas added with a snort.

They followed after Sora, finding the ladder up the side of the ship and hauling themselves up after Sora. He was already bouncing around the deck, exploring everything he could and letting out gasps and exclamations of awe.

“Oooh look! We have cannons! Ten of them!” Sora rushed to the back of the ship where the helm was. He stopped at the base of the stairs leading to the stern. Directly in front of the area where the Captain’s quarters would be was a hatch laid on the deck. Without hesitation Sora opened it and went down. “Oh! This is to the Captain’s cabin!! Cool!”

While Sora explored that and Xion wondered the deck, Roxas headed towards the bow of the ship. There he also encountered a set of stairs leading below deck. It appeared to be the cargo hold and sleeping quarters, though only two hammocks were visible. It made sense since they were a three man crew and one of them would take up the Captain’s quarters.

Roxas didn’t explore far, only sorting through the cargo already there and making note of the contents. There was a few crates of gunpowder and cannonballs, but only one small box containing food. Roxas grimaced, they’d probably have to make port in order to get more supplies. But they’d need money in order to bargain and buy. What kind of currency was used here again? Doubloons? He’d have to ask Sora.

Making his way back up to the deck, Roxas spotted both Xion and Sora talking animatedly. They brightened at seeing Roxas, rushing to him in order to ask what he found below deck.

“Supplies and hammocks for two people to sleep in. But the supplies are mostly gunpowder and cannonballs. We’ll need to head somewhere and get more provisions or we’re going to run into problems.” Roxas grunted, jabbing his thumb behind him towards the stairs leading below deck.

Sora nodded, pulling out a map from the folds of his coat. At Roxas’ curious look, he grinned. “Found it in the Captain’s cabin! Along with a little white crab! I released it but this just proves Calypso was the one giving us this ship! Anyways!” Sora unfurled the map and waited for Roxas and Xion to stand on either side of him before he started explaining his plan. “We’ll need to sail to familiar territory so we can figure out where we are. After that we just need to head towards Port Royal for supplies! Maybe stop by an island here and there to scour for treasure in order to have some money to purchase things with!”

Xion nodded, “Sounds like a plan. So… Does this make Sora Captain?”

Sora grinned, folding the map up and sticking it back in his coat. “Yep! I’m Captain!”

“Oh?” Roxas crossed his arms over his chest and smirked, “And what if I wanted to be Captain? Will I have to fight you for the title?”

A pout was his answer and Sora mirrored Roxas by also crossing his arms over his chest. “No way! And I was on the ship first so that makes me Captain. Plus I’ve got the hat! Totally Captain material!”

Roxas snorted, “Kind of low standards for a Captain, don’t you think?” Before Sora could voice his annoyance at Roxas’ words, the blond had slung an arm around Sora’s shoulders and grinned. “Fine, you’re Captain. But that makes me Quartermaster.”

“Quartermaster?” Xion tilted her head in confusion at the name.

“It’s like First Mate, but usually you don’t have a First Mate on a pirate ship. Instead you have a Quartermaster.” Sora explained, “They’re a rank below Captain and are basically a Captain’s right hand. They’re also in charge of food and water.” Sora paused before looking at Roxas in mild confusion. “How come you know what a Quartermaster is? And how come you get to be Quartermaster?”

Roxas shrugged, “You’ve been to this world before. I remember bits and pieces about it because of you. And I get to be Quartermaster because I was your Nobody.”

Xion seemed to agree with that, the girl smiling and nodding her head. “He has a point.”

“Well alright… Then Xion can be…” Sora gasped as he got an idea, reaching into his coat and producing the map. He then held it out to Xion, grinning widely. “You can be the Sailing Master! Navigating is a very important job and I trust you to lead us to where we need to go!”

She took the map in gentle hands, treating it like it was a precious gem. With a firm nod of her head, Xion grinned and saluted Sora. “Ay ay, Captain! I’ll navigate us through these waters!”

Sora laughed and pumped a fist into the air, “Alrighty then! All hands on deck! Let’s see how fast Kingdom Keeper can fly!”

With that all three of them broke off to prepare for sailing. Sora took up the helm, Roxas darted up high and let loose the sails, and Xion waited patiently to cast a simple Aero for the sails to catch. The ship groaned as it pushed forward suddenly, the lip of the cave casting a shadow over them that was quickly being swallowed up by sunlight. In just a matter of moments their ship was free of the cave and was now entering open waters.

Roxas stayed up near the top of the sails, sitting on the upper part of the mast and acting as lookout. Since there wasn’t really a crow’s nest, Roxas had to settle for reclining on the yard itself. He didn’t seem to mind and instead looked to be enjoying the way the wind blew against his face as the ship began picking up speed.

Xion had disappeared below deck, returning a moment later with a wide grin and something made of thick black and white fabric in her arms. “Sora!! I found our flag!!”

“Well what are you waitin’ for?” Sora called to her, gesturing up towards Roxas with one hand. “Hoist the colours!!!”

“Ay Captain!” Xion ran towards the mast, calling Roxas down in order to help her.

Together the two of them figured out how to tie the flag to the ropes and rig it up. They pulled till the flag was high above their heads and past the mast. At the very top the flag caught the wind and fully unfurled.

The three stared up in awe at the customized decoration on the Jolly Roger. It was a white skull, just as most pirate flags, but the differences were what set it apart. On the skull was a crown, tipped to the side and slotted over most of the head. It was designed similar to the crown emblem gracing the three Keyblade wielder’s visage, apparently a running motif for them and their ship. Instead of two crossed swords or bones set below the skull, there were two very distinct Keyblades. The Kingdom Key, to be exact. Though they didn’t have the familiar keychain at the end, it was still clear enough to tell their shape apart from any other Keyblade.

“Amazing…” Xion whispered, voice almost lost to the wind.

Roxas and Sora both let out their own sounds of agreement. Feeling his excitement bubbling to an uncontainable degree, Sora tossed his head back and loudly bellowed out a thank you to Calypso. It only took a second of hesitation before Xion and Roxas were also shouting their own forms of thanks to the Goddess.

Sora leapt up and onto the railing separating the stern from the rest of the ship. Xion and Roxas looked to him, all three of them wearing matching grins of excitement. Sora placed one hand on his hip and puffed out his chest, pointed directly ahead of them towards the open sea.

“Alright! Next stop, Port Royal!”

///

“You’re up early.”

Glancing up from his mug of overly sweetened coffee, Lea flashed a grin at Isa. The blue-haired man ignored the grin in favor of pouring himself a cup of coffee. Only when he was sitting across from Lea at the little table did he appear ready for further conversation. He indicated as much by finally making eye contact with the red-head.

“Just had a restless sleep, ya know? Too many things going through my mind.”

“How tragic. I know how difficult it is for you to think about more than two things at a time.” Came the dry response.

Lea let out a mock cry of pain and placed a hand over his heart. “Isa, you wound me. Must you be so cruel this early in the morning?”

“Only if you insist on lying as to why you’re up early.”

Laughing and taking a huge gulp of his coffee, Lea leaned back in his chair and sighed. “Alright you got me. I’m up early to do “ _damage control_ ” at the request of Xion and Roxas.” He said, raising his hands to make air quotes.

Isa quirked a brow, not needing to voice his question since Lea apparently picked up on the silent inquiry. He pulled out his Gummi Phone, waving it before setting it on the table.

“Last night Xion sent me a message. Basically because of a certain overbearing silver-headed Keyblade Master, Sora has run away. Roxas and Xion are acting as backup for him and Xion asked me to keep an eye on Riku and make sure he doesn’t go on a rampage trying to find Sora.”

Isa looked unimpressed, lowering his coffee mug in order to level Lea with a flat look. “Are you telling me that Sora’s brilliant plan to avoid Riku was to run away? Without contacting him or anyone else?”

“Xion said they informed the King.” Lea shrugged in response, grinning lazily. “And besides, that’s Sora for you. Act now, think later.”

“I’ve noticed.” Isa sighed and went back to his coffee. Silence fell between them for a while, both enjoying their drink while they sorted through their thoughts. Eventually Isa spoke up again, catching Lea’s attention. “Are you… Alright with this? I understand you still worry for Xion and Roxas…”

Lea might’ve laughed at the constipated look Isa had. Talking about feelings was something his friend was still unused to and it was always entertaining to see. But Lea knew if he poked fun at Isa this early in the morning, he was at risk of having burning hot coffee flung at him, so he restrained.

“I’m fine I guess. Doing better than Riku, that’s for sure. But I had time to adjust to Roxas and Xion existing again. And plus Xion said she’d give me updates, so I know they aren’t gonna disappear on me. I just have to do my part and keep Riku from blowing down the doors of every single world trying to find Sora.”

“Which explains why you are up far earlier than usual.” Isa hummed into his coffee.

After living in Yen Sid’s tower for nearly a month, it was easy for them to track Riku’s schedule. He’d wake up at the crack of dawn, eat breakfast, train for a few hours, then go and wake Sora up. After that he’d stick closer to Sora than moss on a rock.

Lea had forced himself to wake up at least an hour before Riku would usually get Sora. He needed to be awake and attentive, especially if Riku was on a rampage.

As if on cue the sound of heavy, quick steps began filtering into the small kitchen. The door burst open and Riku rushed in, looking around with his brows furrowed and concern radiating from him in waves.

“Have you guys seen Sora?”

“Nope!” Lea hummed, finishing off his coffee. “Can’t say I’ve seen him this morning.”

Isa sent a pointed look towards Lea, frowning at the wink he got. Riku, unaware of the exchange, ran his hand through his hair. “He wasn’t in his room or the training yard. I went to ask Yen Sid but he isn’t back from the Wizard conference he and Merlin are attending.”

“Did you check the library? Maybe he hid there.” Lea stood and put his cup in the sink, the soapy sponge lifting itself and manually washing the mug for him. Lea honestly loved when Yen Sid’s magic made the chores do themselves.

“Why would Sora be hiding?”

“Because he knows you’re looking for him.” Lea flashed a knowing grin towards Riku. It took a moment before teal eyes narrowed at venomous green. Lea bit back a chuckle, once again amazed at how quick Riku was.

Stepping forward, Riku glared up at Lea. “Where is Sora?”

“Don’t know. Maybe if you ask again nicely I’ll have a better answer?”

“Axel-!”

Riku was cut off by Isa, the blue-haired man sending his own glare towards the red-head. He was in no mood to listen to Lea rile up Riku.

“Lea, enough games.”

Lea laughed, moving back over towards the table and grabbing his Gummi Phone. “I honestly have no clue where they are! Sora wouldn’t tell Xion or Roxas the location. And my messages haven’t gotten a response yet, so I don’t know what world they went to.”

An alarmed look passed over Riku’s face and he rushed to Lea’s side. “What do you mean? Sora and the others left? Where?”

“Like I said,” Lea rolled his eyes, opening his phone and navigating through it. “I don’t know what world they went to. But yes, Sora, Roxas, and Xion left last night.”

He showed the screen to Riku, the Keyblade Master reading through the message quickly. It was a simple paragraph of text from Xion, a few stragglers at the end of it almost like she had an afterthought. Though the content of them indicated that they were anything but afterthoughts.

> **_ Xion _ ** _: Axel, please don’t panic. Sora is running away in order to get some space. He did not want to confront Riku, but Sora says he is feeling suffocated. Roxas suggested that we go with him so that we can keep an eye on Sora and make sure he doesn’t get into trouble. Sorry I can’t tell you the world we’re going to, Sora is keeping it secret. We’re contacting the King so that he’s aware and we will send updates. Please make sure Riku doesn’t panic!_
> 
> **_ Xion _ ** _: Sora taught us an oath he learned on a world. Since Roxas called us the three musketeers, Sora thought we should know the oath of the musketeers!_
> 
> **_ Xion _ ** _: I can see the world we’re going to now. It looks interesting!_
> 
> **_ Xion _ ** _: This world is huge! Roxas says you’d probably like it here. I also agree with him about that!_
> 
> **_ Xion _ ** _: Sorry, you’re probably still asleep! I think. Time works differently on this world. The sun was rising when we arrived. We’ve been exploring for a while now, we’re taking a break at the moment though. Sora and Roxas are making a game of who can get the most coconuts._
> 
> **_ Lea _ ** _: What world did you guys go to???_
> 
> **_ Lea _ ** _: Hello? Xion???_
> 
> **_ Lea _ ** _: Xiiiiiiiion? Xi-Xi?_
> 
> **_ Lea _ ** _: Xi to the on._

Riku frowned at the messages, pulling away and taking out his own Gummi Phone. He sent a group message to Xion, Sora, and Roxas, the simple phrase “where are you” the only thing on screen. Putting his phone back into his pocket, Riku hesitated for a moment before he turned around and headed towards the door.

“And where are you going?” Lea asked as he followed the other.

Isa, having already finished his coffee in the time it took Riku to read the messages, also followed after. He personally wasn’t interested in tracking down the three. They were old enough to handle themselves, there wasn’t really a point in trying to keep tabs on them. If they wanted to be found, they’d be found.

“I’m going to go train.” Came Riku’s terse response.

Lea shared a look with Isa, the red-head humming curiously. “I thought you’d be hauling ass to go and find Sora.”

Sighing, Riku paused in his walk and ran a hand through his hair before he turned to look at the two former Organization members. “I want to go find him, believe me. I’m worried he’ll get into trouble. But me going after him right now would make the situation worse. Sora felt that running in the dead of night was the only way to get some space. I drove him to that. I can’t just go chasing after him, even if I really want to. I’m going to respect Sora’s choice.”

His words caused a bark of laughter to leave Lea. “Well look at you acting so mature! Though you be sure to let us know when you do intend to go after him. It’ll be fun to tag along.”

Riku offered a wry smile, neither saying yes or no to the request. Instead he gave a parting wave and left towards the training field. Lea had a feeling he was only training to get his mind off of Sora. It was almost adorable how sweet he was being on respecting Sora’s choice to run away.

“How much you wanna bet he caves and goes searching for Sora by the end of the day?” Lea asked with a grin, eyes flitting over to Isa.

Isa smirked, “I believe Riku will last longer than that. Two days, at the very least.”

“Wow, so much faith in the guy. What makes you so sure?”

“I think the better question,” Isa began as he turned around, sparing a glance at Lea, “Is how long it will take before **you** cave in and decide to go find Roxas.”

Lea watched his friend leave, stunned into silence for a moment. Shaking his head, Lea regained his bearings and chased after Isa. “Wait hold on, what’s that supposed to mean?”

He was met with silence.

“Isa? Come on you can’t just say that and then keep quiet! Isa!”


	3. Now Can We Panic?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Never hang up without a proper goodbye when something serious is going on. That usually causes people to worry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I had fun with this chapter :> Finally the ball gets rolling! Thank you for reading and your comments, they are greatly appreciated! This chapter is longer than the other two so hopefully you enjoy the extra content~

_Lea frowned, unable to see much surrounding him. He looked to be in an empty dark room, the walls extending endlessly on either side of him. He could make out what appeared to be mist in the room, but with how little light there was it was hard to tell. All he knew was that breathing it in made his throat tingle like mist usually did._

_Twisting around, Lea’s brows furrowed as he tried to make heads or tails of where he was. Should he start walking in a direction? Or should he just wait for something to happen? Where was he even? Last he remembered, he’d been nicely tucked in bed at Yen Sid’s tower. So unless someone kidnapped him in the middle of the night and stuck him in a pit of shadows without him waking up, Lea had a feeling he was most likely in a dream._

_Lea hesitated when light suddenly began shining at his back. The mist around him swirled and seemed to shy away. It was then he realized that it wasn’t mist, not really. With the aid of the light, Lea could tell that it was actually darkness dancing around him._

_But if this was darkness… Then where was the light coming from? His heart clenched and Lea suddenly found it hard to breath. He didn’t want to turn around, he was afraid of what he’d see. But Lea knew that he had to._

_Slowly, ever so slowly he turned. The tightening around his heart grew unbearable at what he saw. Lea had a fleeting thought that his heart had gone and truly popped. Not even a full month with the thing and he already lost it to a dream. Classic._

_The light was shining from an open door, a familiar head of blond hair catching the rays and almost glowing. Roxas’ blue eyes stared at Lea, something akin to sorrow and loss swimming in their depths. He was wearing his Organization cloak, water dripping from the fabric like he’d just come out of the rain. It was then that Lea realized Roxas’ entire body looked like it was dunked in water. His hair was matted down to his head and little drops slipped from it and down his face. Or were those tears? Lea couldn’t tell the difference, not from this distance anyways._

_Like an echo Lea’s voice rang out through the darkness, faint and full of hurt like when he said them. The words he yelled at that time, mockingly repeating all around them. “ **You’re too late**.” But it didn’t make sense! It hadn’t been raining that time and Roxas hadn’t been wearing his Organization coat. So why was he wearing it here?!_

_Lea’s breath hitched on a gasp and he turned around fully. He reached for Roxas just as his friend began to move away from him. Roxas headed towards the door with slow steps, not even pausing to look back at Lea. By all logic he should have been able to catch Roxas. He was running and his legs were longer! Yet no matter how hard he pushed himself Lea couldn’t reach him. He couldn’t reach Roxas._

_Opening his mouth and calling out to him did nothing either. His voice couldn’t carry and Lea was half sure he wasn’t even making sounds. His words of anger were the only thing he could hear, and even then they were giving way to a loud incessant buzzing. Maybe it was only Lea that couldn’t hear his own voice? Yet if that was the case then why wasn’t Roxas stopping? Why was he going through that door of light and leaving Lea behind?_

Suddenly Lea lurched forward with a gasp, the floor rushing up to meet him with a smack. The redhead groaned from his spot on the floor. His blankets were tangled around his legs and making it hard to move. Not only that, but that buzzing sound was still going off. Wait… Buzzing?

Lea had no trouble moving once his sleep-addled brain realized that the buzzing was coming from his Gummiphone. He forgot that he’d set the stupid thing to vibrate instead of ringing. Honestly at this point he should probably change that.

Shaking off the last tendrils of panic from his dream, Lea rolled his shoulders and grabbed the bulky phone from its place on his nightstand. His mood instantly brightened when he saw that it was Roxas calling.

“Well look who it is! Little Roxas here to give me a wakeup call? I’m honored.” Lea grinned at the scowling blond when he appeared on screen.

Despite the fact it was clear Roxas wanted to grin at Lea, he refrained and kept his tone fierce. “ _It’s about your crappy doodle. Seriously? I know you can draw better than that. I’ve seen your work_!”

Ah, he was probably talking about the drawing Lea did yesterday. He’d been watching Riku and Isa spar and in his boredom he drew in the dirt. It had been a rather poor stick figure of Roxas, the angry frown and spiky hair the only thing that could be slightly related to the Keyblade wielder. That and Lea also made sure to add crude renditions of Roxas’ two Keyblades.

But of course the drawings had come out poor. Lea had purposefully used his non-dominant hand because he knew it’d bug the blond. Especially since he uploaded it with the caption “ _Missing my favourite blond_ ｡ﾟ(*´□`)ﾟ｡”.

Lea offered a shrug and a lopsided grin, “What can I say? You bring out the best in me. And without you here that “ _crappy drawing_ ” is the best I can manage.”

“ _That’s a blatant lie and you know it. You’ve done a lot of cool things, even when I wasn’t by your side. You don’t need me to be with you to do your best_."

Lea’s smile fell almost instantly at Roxas’ words. He was instantly reminded of his dream. Of Roxas leaving him behind. The scenery of his dream hadn’t been lost to Lea either. Roxas leaving towards the light while he stayed in the darkness.

“ _… Xle?_ ”

What did that mean? That Lea would fall to the darkness again? But he was now considered a Guardian of Light. Could the darkness really get ahold of him like before?

“… _Xle_!”

Would he become a Nobody again? Lea didn’t want that! He didn’t want to forget what it felt like to feel. He didn’t want to be forced to fight against his friends.

“ _Lea!!_ ”

Lea jolted at Roxas’ shout. He fumbled with his phone and almost dropped it. When he righted the device, he offered an apologetic grin to Roxas. The blond was frowning at him, brows drawn together in concern.

“ _Hey… You ok? You kind of… Disappeared on me there_.” Roxas’ voice was hesitant.

He could laugh off Roxas’ worry, pretend nothing was wrong. But that would get them nowhere and Lea was sure it’d only make Roxas worry more.

Sighing, Lea ran a hand through his hair, “Sorry ‘bout that. Just had a weird dream that’s left me feeling off.”

“ _Oh_ …” Roxas bit his lip, glancing off to the side. “ _You… Wanna talk about it_?”

“Honestly? No. I kind of just wanna forget it?” He could tell Roxas wasn’t pleased with that answer. But if Lea knew how to do anything, it was change the topic. So he slapped on a reassuring grin and make a deep humming sound, peering closer to the screen and trying to get a good look at Roxas’ surroundings. "So what world did you three drop into anyways? Looks like the wall’s made of… Wood? You in a log cabin or something?”

Roxas snorted, “ _Something like that. But sorry, can’t tell you the world we went to_.”

“What? Why not!” Lea pouted at the screen.

“ _Xion and I promised Sora that we wouldn’t tell you where we went if you asked. We’re keeping our location a secret for a reason. Not even the King knows_.”

Lea let out a whine and flashed his best wounded puppy look. “Aww come on, Roxy. I promise I won’t tell Riku where you guys went. I’m just worried about my favourite blond!”

“ _Ok two things wrong with that. For starters, what about Xion? Not going to miss her? And secondly, I’m never going to forgive you for using that nickname so once this phone call ends consider our friendship over_.” Roxas said it with such a deadpan expression that for half a moment Lea thought he was being serious. However that glimmer in his eye told Lea that he was only joking. Still, scary words to be tossing around.

Placing a hand over his chest, Lea made a sound of offense. “How rude of you to assume I wouldn’t miss Xion. Of course I would. But unlike you, I know she won’t go looking for trouble. And she keeps me updated on her safety, yours too since you can’t be bothered to message me.”

“ _It’s not like I have the time to pull out my Gummiphone and send you a message. I’m pretty busy here_!” Roxas scowled at Lea, his lip jutting out into a pout.

“Oh? But a phone call is fine?”

Roxas blinked at that, pausing in thought before shrugging. “ _It’s easier than typing a message. Plus where we are, we never know what’s going to happen. I don't want to be in the middle of sending you a message and then have something keep me from sending it. A call is more direct_.”

Lea laughed at that, “So, by something keeping you from sending a message, do you mean like an attack or something?”

Suddenly there was a distant boom sound on Roxas’ end. His eyes went wide and the blond yelped when something exploded next to him, large splinters of wood flying past the screen. Roxas’ phone dropped with a thud, more of those boom sounds ringing out while Sora and Xion’s yelling was also picked up.

“ _All hands on deck_! _We’re under attack_!”

“ _Heartless!!_ ”

Lea’s eyes widened and he pressed his face close to the screen, nose practically brushing the device. “Roxas?! Hey! You ok?! What was that?! What happened?!?! What’s that about Heartless?!”

Roxas let out a curse, his hand showing up on screen as he picked up his phone. There was shifting before Roxas was now looking at the screen, a few scratches on his cheek and only one of them trickling some faint blood. The blonde’s eyes were narrowed and he was looking up towards the ceiling.

“ _Sorry Axel! Looks like I’ll have to cut our call short! I’ll call you later!_ ”

“Wait Roxas! Don’t you dare hang up without telling me what’s going on! Roxas!” Lea yelled at his phone, though his pleas went ignored.

Roxas offered him an apologetic grin before the call was ended and the screen went black. Lea stared at his phone for several heavy seconds. He then abruptly sprung from his bed and rushed to the door, yanking it open and peeling out like no tomorrow.

Lea didn’t even bother to remember that he was still in his pajamas. He was too busy panicking over the fact that Roxas and the others were under attack Heartless that were making things explode. It had been wood that was flying so was it something busting through the wall? But it sounded like Sora said something like “ _all hands on deck_ ”? Does that mean they were on a boat? It’d explain the wood.

He burst through the door leading to the kitchen, breathing hard and probably looking like a wild animal. Riku had been washing his dishes in the sink while Isa was sitting at a table and was apparently playing a card game against Demyx. The three of them all looked up at Lea’s arrival, only Demyx reacting.

The sitar wielder pointed a finger and laughed at Lea. “You look like a red porcupine!” He wheezed out between giggled.

Any other time Lea would’ve been offended, however currently he was kind of freaking out. Ignoring the fact that his hair probably did look like a fiery bird’s nest, he instead stomped over to Riku and grabbed him by the front of his coat.

“We need to go find them!”

Riku seemed confused for a moment, slowly reaching for a towel to dry his hands before prying Lea’s grip off of him. “Axel. It’s only been a day since they left. We can’t just—“

“Look I know it’s stupid to freak out and try to find them now, but I just got a call from Roxas! And yeah it was fine in the beginning but then they were suddenly under attack by Heartless and I think it was big because things were exploding!” Lea exclaimed, waving his phone wildly.

Now Riku really did look concerned. He made an aborted motion to reach for his phone and gritted his teeth in frustration. With a heavy sigh Riku reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Ok, let’s take a step back and think this over. We know Roxas, Xion, and Sora are skilled fighters. They can handle whatever is thrown at them. And if they can’t, Xion knows to retreat. Roxas may try to fight and so would Sora, but they wouldn’t ignore her suggestion if there really was no other choice. We can’t just rush after them because they were being attacked. That would be counterproductive. It’d be like saying we don’t trust them to be able to fight on their own.”

Lea deflated, his shoulders slumping and his head hanging in defeat. “Yeah I know but… I just…” Lea ground his teeth in frustration and grimaced. His dream was still clinging to the edges of his mind and leaving him panicked. He was worried that his dream wasn’t just a dream.

From where he sat, Isa sighed and leaned back in his chair. “If you are so concerned, why not try calling them back later? If you tell Roxas or Xion your concerns, I’m sure they’ll tell you the world they’re in to reassure you it isn’t that dangerous.” To Demyx he inclined his head and set his cards down. “Royal flush. I win.”

Demyx let out a cry of outrage, smacking his cards down onto the table and pouting angrily. Lea would’ve found the moment hilarious if he still wasn’t so wound up.

He breathed deep, pushing his hair back. “No can do. Sora told Xion and Roxas not to tell me what world they went to. Apparently they don’t trust me to keep a secret.”

Riku frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. He leaned his back against the counter and hummed. “It’s not that they don’t trust you… It’s probably because Sora is being extremely cautious. He knows you like to stir up trouble for fun, he probably anticipated you teasing me with information on his location if you found out where they are.”

“While I am offended that you all think so lowly of me, he’s really not wrong. I probably would’ve rubbed it in your face.” Lea shrugged unapologetically.

“So you wouldn’t be told no matter how much you ask.” Riku continued, ignoring Lea. “And no one else staying at Yen Sid’s tower would have any reason to ask where they are. And if someone else here called and asked, they’d know you or I were probably trying to find out the information.”

“Well then what do we do?”

Riku bit his bottom lip and seemed to be rather conflicted on something. With a heavy sigh he closed his eyes and tilted his head back. “I know someone we could ask to call Sora. He wouldn’t ignore her. He might not tell her where they are, but at the very least we’d know they’re safe.”

Lea instantly knew who he was talking about. “Well what are we waiting for?! To Destiny Islands we go!”

“Hold on a minute,” Riku’s arm shot out and he grabbed Lea, “We’re not asking Kairi to get their location. And we’re not going to go searching for them after she talks to them. We’re going to simply see if they’re ok and that’s it. Understand?”

Lea looked annoyed for a moment before he breathed out in a huff, pouting. “Fine.” Lea took his hand out of Riku’s grip and rushed to the door. “Let me get changed first!”

Riku sighed and ran a hand through his hair, looking over his shoulder at Demyx and Isa. “You guys coming along?”

“And have to listen to the princess asking why I haven’t returned to being a Somebody again? No way. Besides! Traveling is so more convenient this way.” As Demyx said that, a dark portal suddenly appeared as if on call. Riku stiffened instinctually at the sight. However Demyx stood and waltzed his way over to the portal, offering a lazy salute. “And speaking of traveling, I’m off to go and see Zexion! I bet he’s been working himself too hard again.”

“Isn’t his name Ienzo now?” Riku asked offhandedly.

“Isn’t Axel’s name Lea now?” Demyx shot right back. He smirked over his shoulder and offered a farewell before he disappeared through the door.

Isa clicked his tongue, “If he thinks running to Ienzo is going to make me forget he owes me 1200 Munny, he’s sorely mistaken.” To Riku he offered a small nod. “I will join you and Lea. I’m reluctant to leave him unsupervised. I’ve learned from previous experiences that it leads to more harm than good.”

Riku found himself chuckling despite himself. “What? Don’t trust me to keep him in line?”

“One of us has to be the rational one, don’t you think? You and Lea tend to lose yourselves when certain people are involved.”

Isa had a point, doesn’t mean Riku had to admit it. Still at least it wasn’t just him that’d be attempting to reign Lea in. Riku knew he personally could keep himself in check, it’d be nice to have another voice of reason to bounce ideas off of. Not to imply Lea wasn’t intelligent. Riku wasn’t a fool, he knew that Lea was smarter than he let on. Still. Better safe than sorry.

///

When Roxas hung up on Lea, he knew he’d be in for it when he called again. Still, he’d deal with that later. When Roxas made his way on deck—having been down in the cargo hold in order to call—he was met with the sight of Xion scrambling around deck while Sora was manning the helm.

Two ships were rushing towards their boat, one tilted to the side and firing off cannons at them. Roxas cursed, rushing towards the stern.

“We need to stop those cannons!!” He yelled out, Xion quick to stand beside him.

“I know!” Sora grit his teeth and spun the wheel, the ship banking left with a groan. He raised a hand, glaring pointedly at one ship. He threw his hand down and shouted “fire”. Like magic their ship’s cannons went off on their own.

Though Xion and Roxas felt like they should’ve been surprised that the cannons reloaded and fired themselves, they were a little too used to magical peculiarities. Roxas bit the inside of his cheek, suddenly getting an idea.

He whipped around and looked up to Sora, “Captain!”

Sora instantly looked down at Roxas and found himself taking part in the grin Roxas was giving him. He couldn’t stop the rush of excitement that coursed through him. Just from a look Sora knew what Roxas was planning. It was something crazy and would no doubt be fun.

“What is it, mister Roxas? Got a plan?”

“You bet! Bring us next to one of the other ships! Xion and I will handle that one while you focus on the other!”

Sora nodded his head and spun the wheel. The ship groaned and turned, aiming towards one of the two ships firing at them. While they approached at an increased speed, Roxas grabbed Xion’s hand and ran to the bow of the ship.

Xion flashed him her own excited grin before the two of them climbed up to perch on the railing of the boat. They quickly passed one of the other ships, the Heartless on board chittering at them. Without hesitation Roxas and Xion dived onto the passing ship, landing on deck with a roll.

In an instant the two had their Keyblades summoned and were darting around deck. They could hear cannon fire over the sound of battle, Sora’s single command ringing out every now and again.

Onboard the enemy deck, Xion and Roxas darted back and forth like bullets. They swung around each other and ducked while the other lashed out, seeming to know where they’d be with only a glance. Suddenly around them three Anchor Raiders appeared. They closed in on Roxas and Xion, their blades drawn menacingly.

Xion moved from where she was and sped past Roxas just as he tossed up Oblivion. Reaching out they clasped hands and Roxas firmly planted his feet on the ground. He swung Xion like she herself was a blade. She kept her arm extended so the Kingdom Key would catch on the Heartless as she flew past. Roxas spun the two of them around with a cry, the Anchor Raiders getting knocked back from the force of it, one even exploding in a cloud of darkness.

Roxas let go of Xion so that she went spinning at another enemy, her Keyblade raised and smashing into them on impact. Lifting his hand he expertly caught Oblivion without even looking. Roxas then leapt back into the fray of Heartless.

While he and Xion battled together, Sora was weaving his way around the other ship. His boat was smaller, true, but it moved far faster. This proved to work to Sora’s advantage. He pelted the enemy ship with an endless barrage of cannons, a shield of water raising at a simple command. Sora was used to fighting with a ship, his magic seeping through the wood and giving it a strength of its own. If only the ship was built for ramming, then Sora might actually charge into the enemy Heartless’ ship instead of dancing around it.

The battle was soon over all too quickly. The shadowy ships bubbled before evaporating like mist in the wind. Sora spun the helm as far to the side as it would go and turned the ship around to go and pick up his two crewmates. They had dropped into the ocean the moment the Heartless ship disappeared, leaving the two of them bobbing in the sea.

“Over here Sora!! Off the port bow!”

He straightened out the wheel and waved a hand. The sails shuddered before they folded themselves up. Sora leapt from the helm before the ship even reached a full standstill. He ran to the side of the ship and looked over. It was hard to spot Xion and Roxas, but as the two swam closer to the ship Sora finally caught sight of them.

“You two ok?!” He called, tossing down the Jacob’s ladder for the two to climb up.

Xion was the first to make it on deck, the girl shaking off some excess water. “I’m fine. Roxas?”

“Peachy.”

Sora laughed at the look Roxas had. He looked like a sullen cat that just got out of the bath! With a grin Sora slung an arm over their shoulders, “Well how did it feel to participate in your first pirate battle?”

Xion quirked a brow at that and smiled, “It isn’t really an authentic battle since you commanded the ship with magic and our opponents were Heartless.”

“Are you suggesting you wanna fight actual people?” Roxas’ tone indicated he wasn’t against the idea. Out of the three of them, Roxas was the most volatile. Sora knew he’d throw hands if provoked even if his opponent wasn’t a Heartless.

Tugging them towards the helm, Sora shook his head. “Nope! No fighting anyone but Heartless!”

“I’m just saying that if someone picks a fight with us, I’m not backing down.”

Xion sighed and shook her head in fond exasperation. “Can you at least promise you won’t fight just anyone?”

“I make no such promises.” Roxas was entirely serious, his expression unwavering even while Xion and Sora laughed at his response.

After their impromptu battle, the ride to Port Royal was uneventful. The three of them enjoyed the fresh air and feel of sunlight shining down on them. Xion and Sora were sitting against the railing separating the stern from the rest of the ship while Roxas sailed.

Looking up at the sky, Xion let out a small hum. “Hey… Do you guys think we’re a little too young to be pirates?”

“Nope.” Was Roxas and Sora’s answer.

Sora tossed her a grin, his hands behind his head in order to provide cushion. “My friend Jack told me that anyone could be a pirate no matter the age! He told me he once met a pirate who was 11! And he wasn’t even the cabin boy!”

“And since Sora is 17—“

Sora interrupted Roxas with a quick, “Almost 18!”

Roxas continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted, though he still made the correction. “So since he’s almost 18 and we were technically created as versions of Sora, by that logic we’re also almost 18.”

Now that they thought about it, that does sound pretty plausible! Though that begged the question, did they all have the same birthday then? Did that make them triplets? Sora voiced these questions and he was also met with thoughtful looks.

Xion hummed and seemed to brighten as she thought of something. “Well actually we don’t need to share Sora’s birthday. We could actually do the days we technically came into existence!”

“Oh! Good idea, Xion!” Sora exclaimed, grinning just as bright.

“Problem,” Roxas held up a hand, glancing at the two of them, “Do you even remember the day we appeared? Because our first days of existing were in the Organization. And I didn’t remember anything before then, let alone what the days were called.”

While that could’ve put a damper on the idea, Xion didn’t seem perturbed. If anything she merely smiled and laughed. “Well ok, maybe you’re right. But I do know someone who would’ve kept track of something like that.”

Sora looked confused, though that was expected. He hadn’t been a part of the Organization and even now he didn’t know all the members that well. Instead of voicing his confusion he instead looked towards Roxas for an answer. He knew that the blond would be able to read his silent question.

Roxas pursed his lips and let out a sigh. “You think Saïx kept a record?”

“Yeah, you’re right! If anyone would, it’d be him. He seems like a stickler for things like that!” Sora snapped his finger and grinned.

“But remember to use his real name or else he won’t respond.” Xion said with a wag of her finger. “He’s Isa now, not Saïx.”

Both Roxas and Sora grimaced, “Yeah… He’s more of a stick in the mud about his name than Axel is.”

“That’s because Axel doesn’t mind if we call him Lea or Axel. He’s satisfied so long as we ‘ _got him memorized’_.” Roxas tapped the side of his temple in a mimicry of his friend.

While Sora and Xion laughed, Roxas felt his own grin slipping slightly. Speaking of Lea, he felt like he was forgetting something involving the redhead. He frowned, pursing his lips in thought. Well whatever it was, hopefully he’d remember.

Silence fell after a while and soon Roxas was passing the helm over to Xion. While Sora taught her how to sail—Xion picking it up at a really fast rate—Roxas focused on being a lookout. It wasn’t long before he could make out several ships varying in sizes and the encroaching land.

With a grin he held onto the mast as he leaned over and shouted down to Xion and Sora. “Land ho!”

That caught both their attention. With a firm pat to her back, Sora left Xion while he leapt up onto the yard with Roxas. Port Royal was approaching fast and it would only be a matter of time before they made dock.

To avoid suspicions on magic ships, Roxas and Sora manually tied up the sails just as Xion twisted their ship so it was next to the wooden pier. Roxas kicked out the gangplank and it hit the wood below it with a loud thump. The sound attracted a few looks from the people mulling about, many of them blatantly staring as three rather young pirates strolled down the plank and onto the pier.

Sora was directly in front of Xion and Roxas, the two former Organization members flanking him a few feet behind. Xion had insisted on this, as Sora was their Captain and should be front and center.

“What’s first on our list, mister Roxas?” Sora asked the blond, folding his hands behind his head as he walked.

“We need provisions, Captain. And seeing as how our boat doesn’t seem to need cannonballs, we won’t need to go shopping for them.”

“Excellent,” Sora reached into one of the pockets of his coat, pulling out a little pouch that clinked with the sound of coins. He tossed it up, catching it with one hand before passing it over to Xion. “I’ll leave you in charge of finances, Xion.”

Sora had found the small sack of money in the Captain’s cabin. It was in one of the drawers at his desk. The three had been surprised at its appearance but instead of questioning it they simply belted out another string of thanks to the Sea Goddess.

Shopping for supplies was both fun and stressful. Though neither of them were picky about what they ate, the three still had to keep in mind that things could rot if they weren’t refrigerated properly. And since this world very clearly didn’t have that kind of technology, they had to be smart about things. However when Xion proposed that they simply dry out the fruit and meats that’d perish quickly, that solved their problems of oncoming scurvy. Though she did make note that it wouldn’t be as nutritious as non-dried fruit so they’d probably have to buy a ton.

While they bought a few other things, a good portion of their money went to purchasing various fruits. As they carried the three crates back to their ship, Roxas stopped by a person selling fishing items in bulk. After a quick bargaining on the price Roxas walked away with a heavy fishing net. He reasoned that if they fished for their own food then there’d be no need to come spend money. Plus they could go scavenge for fruit on any of the other islands.

After everything was good and bought, the trio found themselves wondering around Port Royal. They got a few looks but other than that no one really bothered them. Eventually the trio found themselves standing in front of a tavern. The sign hanging above the doorway was a rooster pecking down at the thickly printed words “ _Rowdy Rooster_ ”.

Even with the sun still quite high in the sky, noise spilled from the tavern. With a glance between the three of them a silent decision was reached. Sora pushed open the tavern doors and entered, his crew directly behind him.

///

“Riku, it’s good to see you.” Kairi smiled warmly as the silver-haired man moved sat next to her. She had been sitting on the slouched tree they’d always hung around, a pile of stones in her hand like she’d just been skipping rocks.

“Not just me,” Riku said after bringing her in for a hug. He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder just as Lea crossed the wooden bridge, Isa several steps behind.

Squinting his eyes, Lea lifted a hand to shield himself from the bright sunlight. “I forgot how bright it is here. I’ll need to remember to carry a pair of shades for times like these.”

“Lea?” Though Kairi was a little surprised, she didn’t seem upset at his appearance.

“And Isa too.” Lea said offhandedly as he settled on Kairi’s other side. Instead of hugging her, he simply lifted a hand and tussled her hair.

Kairi giggled and didn’t duck away from the action even when it left her hair sticking up in parts. She merely smiled and offered a greeting to both Lea and Isa. The latter offered a nod in greeting and chose to stand against the tree rather than try and find room on the occupied trunk.

“So, what brings you three to Destiny Island?”

Though she didn’t ask where Sora was, Riku knew she was curious at his lack of appearance. Just as he opened his mouth to explain, Lea beat him to it. Waving a hand towards Riku, Lea began his dramatic botched retelling of the events. “Well for starters, prince charming here was too overbearing and caused the little princess Sora to run away. He took with him his fellow royals, a fair princess Xion and the untamed princess Roxas. Now they’re hiding somewhere and won’t answer our calls. Even after I was promised a call. And Xion hasn’t updated me on if they’re ok or not, so I’m doubly worried!”

She tried to follow, she honestly did. But only parts of what Lea said made any sense. She kept her smile though not-so-subtly glanced at Riku.

Riku sighed, “What Lea meant was that I have been… Too overprotective of Sora since he came back and my guess is, is that it was suffocating him. So he ran away in order to get some space. Roxas and Xion followed him as support. They’re keeping their location secret and while we were going to respect their wishes, Lea got a call from Roxas and apparently they were attacked by Heartless. Since then neither Xion nor Roxas returned his calls. We would’ve tried calling Sora, but I know he’d just ignore a call if it was from either Lea or I.”

Kairi gradually frowned at Riku’s words. Though when he finished she gained a thoughtful look and hummed. “Even after all these years Sora’s still the same.”

At the confused look she received Kairi chuckled, “You never noticed? Whenever you did something in the past that upset Sora, he usually tried to hide from you in order to avoid confrontation. But he only did this when whatever you were doing was supposedly in his best interest. He didn’t want to hurt your feelings by telling you he didn’t like what you were doing. So his fallback option was always to hide.”

“Aww isn’t that sweet!” Lea exclaimed, looking over at Isa with a pout. “When we were younger, Isa would never do something like that in order to spare my feelings.”

“If you’re being an idiot, I am going to tell you that you’re being an idiot.” Came the blunt response.

Riku rolled his eyes and ignored Lea’s sudden whining about how mean Isa was. “Anyways, we’re here because we wanted to ask you to try and call Sora. We don’t think he’d reject your call. Ah, but we don’t want you to ask where he is. I want Sora to tell me where he is when he’s ready.”

Kairi chuckled and nodded her head. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She was smart enough to move away from the trio so that they weren’t seen when the call connected. Then with a nod to Riku, Lea, and Isa, she dialed Sora’s number.

The phone rang for quite a while, almost long enough that the four of them assumed Sora wouldn’t pick up. Then just as Kairi was going to hang up and try again, the phone connected. Before Kairi could even utter a hello there was a crash on Sora’s end and loud yelling.

Sora’s face peeked at the screen, his eyes wide and some kind of drink dripping from his hair. Smooshed next to him was Xion, the girl looking just as haggard as Sora. They were hiding behind what appeared to be a table, things flying past their heads and crashing on impact.

“ _K-Kairi! Hey what’s up_?” Sora squeaked, yelping as something flew at them. Xion grabbed him by the back of the neck and tugged down, the both of them dodging a glass mug that shattered just above where their heads had been.

Kairi’s eyes were wide and she tried hard not to look up at the three men across from her. She could practically sense how suddenly they tensed. They had no clue what was going on and didn’t have anything but the sounds to offer insight.

“Sora! Xion! Are you two alright? Where’s Roxas?”

At the mention of Roxas’ apparently missing, Kairi saw Lea lurch forward like he wanted to take the phone. It took Isa and Riku holding him back to keep the redhead from making a scene. Isa even went the extra mile and covered Lea’s mouth so he couldn’t speak.

Sora and Xion both winced, glancing off to the side just as an enraged roar came from somewhere off screen. It sounded extremely like Roxas and was soon followed by more crashing sounds.

“ _Um well we’re fine! But Roxas… He’s kind of in the middle of a bar fight?_ ” Sora laughed sheepishly.

“Nnnhn?!!” Lea almost yanked Riku and Isa off their feet from how fast he moved. Riku had to shift in front of the tall redhead and shove back in order to keep him from advancing. As much as Riku wanted to take the phone from Kairi and see for himself if Sora truly was ok, they couldn’t let the brunette know that they were there! It’d destroy the whole purpose of this trip!

“A bar fight?! Why??” Kairi’s worry was genuine, the girl pulling her phone closer to her face.

“ _It wasn’t Roxas’ fault!_ ” Xion was quick to add in, looking between the phone and what Kairi assumed was Roxas off-screen. “ _We went into a tavern to get something to eat before we set off and while we were waiting at a table… Um… Well…_ ”

“ _Some creep started hitting on Xion! But they were really gross and rude about it! And then they called her a really nasty name._ ” Sora hissed, a rare spark of anger flashing in his eyes. He looked like he was going to add something but then his gaze snapped up and his eyes widened. “ _Wait Roxas!!! Don’t use the table!_ ”

Sora’s panicked tone was enough to take Riku’s attention away for a few precious moments. In that short span of time Lea shook off Riku and Isa’s hold, rushing his way over to Kairi just as Sora dropped his phone. Xion caught it so that it only jostled slightly, her eyes lighting up in surprise when Lea’s face appeared on screen pressed close to Kairi’s.

“Xion!”

“ _Lea!_ ”

“Are you ok?! Did that guy touch you? Did you break his nose?! Please tell me someone decked him!” Lea rushed out in one breath, brows drawn together tightly in worry.

Xion found herself smiling despite the chaos raging around her. “ _I’m fine. He didn’t touch me, Sora and Roxas got in the way before he could. Sora was the one to grab me away from him while Roxas was the one to punch him. And that’s kind of how the bar fight started._ ” Xion bit her lip and winced just as there was a crash, both Roxas and Sora letting out battle cries.

Riku came up to the other side of Kairi, trying to get a glimpse of the screen. Lea took the phone from Kairi so he could hold it out further, all of them now visible. Even Isa moved closer, hanging near the back so he could also see the small screen.

“Xion, what exactly is Sora doing?” Riku asked, tone practically radiating that he wouldn’t take any answer but the truth.

The black-haired girl bit her lip, clearly reluctant to answer. “ _W-well he was trying to stop Roxas from fighting. But then someone grabbed Roxas by the hair and Sora shoved them off and now he’s fighting too._ ”

There was a loud crash and yelling, someone shouting “ _King’s Navy_!”

It was like a bomb went off, people no longer fighting and instead running around like ants. Xion moved to peek over the edge of the table she was hiding behind. She gasped, eyes darting between the phone and behind the table.

Making a decision she yelled, “ _Roxas! Sora! We have to go!_ ” She then looked back down at the screen and offered a strained smile. “ _Sorry but I’ve got to hang up! I promise to call later!_ ”

“Wait a sec, Xion!” Lea’s pleas went unanswered as the screen turned black. He let out a frustrated sound, shaking the phone like it had offended him personally. “What is with those two hanging up so suddenly?! Don’t they know that just causes people to stress more?!” Before he could probably chuck the phone into the ocean, Kairi managed to swipe it from him and return it back to her pocket. She noticed that while Lea raged to Isa, Riku was deathly quiet.

Riku grit his teeth, hands clenching at his sides. He wanted to go and find Sora now more than anything. He knew Sora could handle himself, he’s been proven time and time again that the younger could. However it was hard to convince his heart one thing when his brain knew another. His heart would always long to be near Sora, even now when it knew Sora didn’t want to be found.

“Riku,” Kairi’s gentle voice broke him out of his thoughts. He jolted, only now realizing that she had taken one of his hands in hers. She smiled up at him, “Go find Sora.”

“What?” Riku couldn’t hide the surprise from his face.

Kairi squeezed his hand in comfort. “Go and find Sora. It’s not healthy for him to bury his feelings like this just to be courteous. You both are adults, you need to act like it and communicate. So go see him, get him to talk with you.”

“But…”

“Come on, young Keyblade master!” Lea exclaimed, grabbing Riku by the shoulders and shoving him towards the ship. “You heard the princess! You gotta talk with your little brunet! And while you’re at it, I’ve got to talk to my little Keyblade duo about hanging up without proper goodbyes! And speaking of goodbye’s; bye Kairi! We’ll let you know when we find them!”

Kairi laughed and waved, “Alright. Please stay safe you three!”

Isa, having been silent the entire time, offered a small nod towards Kairi. Though his expression didn’t look any different, Kairi could see the small crease between his brows and how his frown seemed more strained. Kairi had a feeling that though he wouldn’t voice it, he too was kind of worried about Sora and the others. Smiling, she returned his nod with one of her own. Kairi watched as Lea and Riku summoned their Keyblades, Lea holding onto Isa so that he left the world with them.

When Kairi was left alone once more, she sighed. Kairi began tossing the rest of her rocks into the water, no longer attempting to skip them. When she was done she stood at the edge with her hands behind her back. “Those two really haven’t changed. Wherever Sora goes, Riku’s bound to follow...”


	4. A Question for the Sea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Be careful when you ask for something. You never know who's listening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey! Here's the next chapter. I was going to have this be longer but then I realized what I had planned would've made the chapter too long. So I decided to splice it! I can promise next chapter is going to be some wild fun shenanigans! Hopefully you enjoy this chapter~ Thanks for reading! Comments are appreciated but not demanded!

“Up here!”

Xion ran to one of the building’s edges and crossed her palms over each other, crouching and nodding to Sora and Roxas. Sora was the first to rush up, pressing his foot to Xion’s hand and leaping off. He grabbed the edge of the roof and pulled himself on it, turning around and reaching down.

“You first! I’ve got heels!” Roxas urged, repeating the motion for Xion.

There wasn’t time to argue as the royal navy was already flooding the streets and grabbing at anyone that slightly resembled a pirate. Which meant Sora, Roxas, and Xion were prime targets.

“You there! Stop!” Someone shouted behind them.

The moment Xion and Sora were safely on the roof, they leaned over and reached out for Roxas. He leapt up and the two caught each of his hands, yanking him up just as a group of red coats rushed them. Without missing a beat the three Keyblade wielders ran and leapt from roof to roof in order to escape being captured.

In all honestly they could’ve easily ran up the wall on their own and pretty much airstep their way out of danger, but the whole point of this trip was to not draw attention to themselves. So in a world like this where practically no one but a select few knew about magic, it was safer to pretend they were normal kids.

“Sora, get the ship ready!” Roxas called, sliding down a roof with a steep incline.

He flipped off the roof and dropped to the ground on all fours. Beside him Xion and Sora landed with similar grace. Sora’s face was scrunched up in concentration and he nodded to them after a beat.

“Sails are down,” He yelled, “Let’s go!”

The three of them weaved through the bustling crowd, dodging anyone marching past that was wearing red. At one point Xion lost sight of the others, but she didn’t linger for long. She knew that Sora and Roxas could handle themselves if they truly got caught.

When she reached the dock, she waited for a moment and thankfully spotted Sora’s mop of spiky brown hair in the crowd. He broke off and rushed to her, giving her a quick once over.

“You ok?”

Xion nodded, “I’m fine. Where’s Roxas?”

Said blond appeared not a second after the words left her mouth. “I’m here. Let’s get out of here.”

They all collectively nodded and made a hasty retreat back to their ship. Just like Sora said the sails were already down. They wasted no time in climbing aboard and setting off away from Port Royal as fast as their little ship could go.

When they were in open waters and a good distance away from the port, all three of them breathed a collective sigh of relief. Now that their brains weren’t pumping with adrenaline, Xion remembered that she had Sora’s phone. And more specifically, she remembered who was there with Kairi when they’d been on the phone.

“Uh guys?” She said, casting an apprehensive look towards them. “I think we’re going to have company soon.”

Roxas frowned, “What do you mean?”

So Xion, after returning Sora’s phone, spent a moment explaining that after Sora had left to join Roxas in the fight, Kairi’s phone had pretty much been abducted by a worried Lea and Riku. By the time Xion had finished speaking, Sora and Roxas were both pale.

Roxas let out a curse and grabbed his head, “I just remembered that I forgot to call Axel back!!”

“Oh my Gods, Riku heard I was in a bar fight. Oooh my Gods he’s going to have a heart attack.”

Both Sora and Roxas were in their own little panicked world. They bemoaned and wailed about how they’d screwed up monumentally. Sora let out a cry of “ _how could Kairi betray us_?!” and at this point Xion was rubbing her head to fight off a headache.

“Enough!” She snapped, hands on her hips and settling the both of them with a stern glare. “You two are being so dramatic! The possibility of them finding us is slim! There’s hundreds of worlds out there!”

“But those three are good at tracking down people.” Roxas pointed out with a grimace. “Axel found me even when I was inserted into that virtual reality of Twilight Town.”

“And let’s not forget how many times Riku’s found me. He’s managed to find me so many times, I might get a free smoothie the next time.” Sora joked despite his earlier panic.

“And don’t get us started on Isa!” The two boys exclaimed, laughing like this was all one big joke and they weren’t just having a breakdown.

Sora crossed his arms over his chest and nodded sagely, “Oh yeah, if anyone can find us, it’ll be him! He’s so meticulous and shit!”

Roxas, clicking his tongue, leaned against the ship’s banister. “I bet you they’ll find us in no time. We’d be better off jumping ship and finding a new world to hole up in. It’s the safest option, especially if they got clues from messages and calls.”

As much as Xion wanted to support the two in their need for space, this was too much! Instead of a relaxing getaway, this was more like two cowards trying to run from confrontation! Either that or criminals trying to escape the law. She let out a heavy sigh and shook her head. Looks like it was up to her to be the voice of reason.

“What difference does it make if we run now? They’d be expecting us to run the moment we realized they’d be coming after us! And don’t forget that in this world, you can’t really get anywhere without a ship. Do any of them have a ship?”

Now that Xion pointed it out, she really did make a good argument. Sora’s smile lit up and he gasped, “You’re right! Calypso gave us our ship, but Riku’s never been to this world before!”

“Neither have Axel or Isa. And they don’t have ships either.” Roxas added, relief dispelling some of the tension in his body.

With a happy laugh, Sora threw his arms over Xion’s shoulders and pulled her in for a hug. “Xion you’re a genius! There’s no way Riku can find us if we stay out in the water!”

///

“Call the King.”

Lea quirked a brow at Riku’s order. They were currently floating through space, Riku having stopped the ship before turning around and speaking.

“Can’t. I’m busy.”

Lea was lying sideways in his chair, long legs tossed over the side as he played one of the little games on his Gummiphone. So in all actuality he could indeed call the King, he was just being difficult. Besides it wasn’t like Riku didn’t have his own phone. How come he was having Lea call?

“Why can’t we just do the ‘ _follow our hearts to find them’_? We did it back in the fight with old man Xehanort.” Despite his annoyed tone Lea did indeed make the call. “What do you even want to ask the King anyways?”

Riku got up from his seat, taking the phone from Lea. “I just want to confirm something before we go anywhere. I’ve got my suspicions on where they might be, but I don’t want to waste time flying there when I could be wrong.”

“Oh?” Lea perked up, grinning lazily at Riku. “Care to share them with the class?”

“In a moment.”

The screen lit up as Mickey appeared, a bemused smile on the King’s face. “ _Riku. I thought you would have call sooner._ ”

“I wanted to give Sora space. But certain situations made me change my decision. We have to communicate, not avoid each other.”

Mickey seemed pleased at the answer and nodded. “ _I’m proud of you for deciding that. But I’m afraid I can’t help you find Sora. I don’t know where he took the others_.”

Riku smiled gently, “That’s alright. It wasn’t you who I was going to ask. Could you give the phone to Donald or Goofy? I want them to help me figure something out.”

That King was surprised for a moment before he laughed. “ _Smart idea. If anyone’d know where Sora went, it would be those two! Give me a moment and I’ll get them_!”

Several minutes passed before Donald and Goofy were seen in the phone screen. They let out a chorus of greetings, Riku smiling and returning the hello.

“Donald, Goofy, I’m hoping you guys can help me figure out something.”

Goofy hummed at that and let out a happy chortle. “ _Well shucks, we can sure try_!”

Riku leaned against Lea’s chair, the redhead tilting his head to study Riku as he spoke. In the seat next to him Isa was also observing Riku, though he looked as if he was trying to solve a rather complex puzzle. Lea mused that he was probably piecing together what Riku’s suspicions were.

“Have you guys ever been to a world that has coconuts? And in that world, have you heard the phrase “ _all hands on deck_ ” or “ _King’s Navy_ ”?” Though they were rather vague and probably not all that helpful, they were the only things Riku could bring up at the moment. He could try and describe the outfit Xion was wearing, but Donald and Goofy never saw Xion in it. At least as far as Riku knew.

Donald let out a thoughtful hum, his wings crossed over his chest as he tapped a foot on the ground. “ _Those sound familiar_!”

“ _Hmmm_ ,” Goofy furrowed his brows and rubbed his chin. “ _Well gawrsh, ya don’t supposed they’re talkin’ about the Caribbean, do ya_?”

Riku tilted his head, “ _’Caribbean’_?”

Nodding along to Goofy’s suggestion, Donald placed his hands on his hips. “ _Yep! It’s Sora’s favourite world! He loves being a pirate_!”

“ _And it’s got plenty o’ coconuts! And Sora says “all hands on deck” whenever he’s commandin’ a ship_!”

A smile curved up the edges of Riku’s lips. “Thank you guys for your help. I’ll call again if I have questions.”

With a lengthy fanfare of farewells, the phone call ended and Lea was passed back his phone. He grinned lazily, following Riku with his eyes.

“So,” He said when Riku summoned his Keyblade. “Was your speculation correct?”

“Mm. Sora’s posted photos of the Caribbean before. Donald and Goofy simply confirmed my suspicions.”

Isa, having remained quiet during this whole exchange, finally spoke up. “In the world we are going to, am I to assume that we must ‘ _keep the order’_? Are you aware of the spell used for this?”

Lea smirked and waved a hand when Riku’s shoulders stiffened. “No worries! I know it. Xion taught it to me a while back.”

Any other time Isa would’ve felt the need to make a jab at Lea actually sitting down long enough to learn something, but he was rather interested in seeing this world they were going to. So with a nod to Riku he said, “That settles it then. Let’s go.”

//

Honestly Riku didn’t know what he expected. Isa and Lea had never been raised on an island, they didn’t encounter the sea on a daily basis. So it stands to reason that when they showed up in the world on a sorry excuse for a rowboat bobbing away in the middle of endless blue water, the two would get some form of seasickness.

Lea was hung over the side of the boat, groaning like he was dying. The spell had changed his clothes to fit with the world. The young man was wearing his hair in a ponytail, the loose red locks of his bangs kept back by a black bandanna. The bandanna had a red heart symbol on it, something quite reminiscent of the keychain on Riku’s old Way to Dawn Keyblade, a symbol frequently associated with the man.

Not only was Lea’s hairstyle changed, but so was his clothes. He had on a cream coloured shirt with the sleeves rolled up past his elbows. Atop that was a deep wine red vest with silver buttons. The collars of his shirt were popped and frequently brushed against his jaw every time he moved his head. A silver chain hung from around his pale neck, the brilliant glint matched by the green studs in his ears. Around his waist was a rust coloured sash that led to dark brown breeches and boots of a matching colour. If he had not been vomiting over the side of the boat, Lea would’ve looked quite attractive.

Their other ill companion, Isa, was thankfully not puking up his guts but was instead laying in the back of the little boat with his eyes closed. He too had his hair styled differently. The cornflower blue strands were in a neat braid tossed over one of his shoulders and hanging down to his chest. An eyepatch was over his left eye, Riku’s heart symbol printed against the black cloth. In one of his ears was a simple gold, rectangle earring that dangled delicately.

Like Lea he was also supporting a rather elegant and fancy look. Around his neck was a white cravat finely tucked into a royal blue vest. On the vest was a gold chain hooking from one side of his lapels, across the cravat, and to the other lapel. The white shirt underneath had fitted bishop sleeves decorated in pearl buttons. On his hands were black gloves with faint silver threads stitched to look like frost ferns. The high waisted pants he wore were also a deep black that seemed to blend seamlessly into the heeled boots he wore. If he’d been standing the shoes might’ve given him an extra inch or two.

At the front of the boat staring off into the horizon and not at all affected by the rocking of the sea was Riku. He was standing tall with his shoulders back and head held high, the coat draped across his shoulders lifting gently in the breeze. On a simple glance Riku’s entire outfit practically screamed “Captain”.

The hat he wore was large, pulled down to partially obscure some of his face. Sticking from it were a plume of feathers in various shades of silver, blue, and white. On his shoulders hung a thick black coat with silver and gold accents, the back of it carrying a large print of his symbol. Keeping the coat in place was a thick silver chain that settled over his chest and stayed put thanks to clasps of a similar shade. In his ears were a pair of blue teardrop earrings, their brilliant hue looking quite similar to the blue of the sea. He wore a white blouse similar to Isa, the only difference being that his buttons were simple silver studs. And like Isa, he wore a pair of black gloves, pants, and boots, his simply lacked in the heel department.

“Uuugh,” Lea groaned, hanging his head miserably. “I don’t know how you’re standing so easily. Just sitting has me dying.”

Riku didn’t even bother to turn around to look at him. “I grew up on an island, remember?”

Lea clicked his tongue and sat up so he could send a glare at Riku’s back. “Well excuse me and Isa for not having the opportunity.”

“Just stop moving around so much. You’ll get used to the sea’s rocking eventually.” Riku spared his two crewmates a glance. “And let’s hope we don’t get attacked by Heartless. Pretty sure puking on them doesn’t work as well as a Keyblade.”

“Hard to say since no one has tried.” Isa was still looking a little green but he managed to pull himself up to sit.

Lea shot him a glare, “Look if you wanna try it, be my guest. But I ain’t in the mood to keep tasting vomit, so I’ll leave it to the both of you to fight Heartless that show up.”

Riku allowed himself to feel a bit sympathetic. He knew it wasn’t easy getting used to the way the ocean rocked. Some people took to it like a fish took to water, pun intended. Sora was a fine example of that. The both of them grew up on Destiny Island together, but Riku would get seasick frequently. It wasn’t till he was at least 7 that his body got used to the frequent rocking.

“Just lay back and close your eyes. You’ll gradually get used to the feeling.” Riku said, sparing a glance at Lea and Isa over his shoulder.

Isa breathed in deeply through his nose, exhaling after a moment before nodding to Riku. Lea grunted, already shutting his eyes and resting his head against the boat’s side.

Patting Lea’s arm, Isa turned to Riku with his usual business look. “So what’s the plan… Captain?”

“Captain? Why’s he Captain? Maybe I wanted to be Captain.” Lea whined.

“You can barely keep down your breakfast. And have you seen Riku’s hat? It is outrageous. A fine example for a Captain.” Isa said, gesturing to Riku’s outfit.

Lea cracked open one eye and hummed. “Yeah, you’re right. Fine, fine. Riku’s Captain.”

Riku rolled his eyes and ignored the backhanded insult to his outfit. It wasn’t like he could control the look the Order gave him. And besides, at least Riku had practical shoes. Who thought heels was a good idea?? Riku wondered if he’d even be able to walk in them.

Pushing aside the amusing thought of Isa tripping, Riku focused back on staring out into the distance. “Well once you two are feeling up to rowing, we’re going to try and find land. I spotted some birds flying in the distance, so by following them we should eventually come across land. And from there we ask around.”

“Seriously? That’s your plan? Do you have any idea how big this world is? Finding Sora and the others is going to be like trying to find a grain of salt in a pile of sugar. Too much effort and not enough results.” Lea groaned, “And what are we even going to ask?! ‘ _Pardon me sir or madam, have you seen three people that look slightly similar to each other, one is a girl with black hair, the others are blue eyed boys with brown and blond hair? They just so happen to be driving their own boat. Oh and if they answer to the names Xion, Sora, and Roxas, that’d be great too. If you could just take us to them, that’d be swell!_ ’” Lea’s false cheer dripped with mockery.

Riku clicked his tongue and turned around to stare down at the annoyed redhead. “Well that’s the only option we have. I don’t see you thinking up ways to find them.”

“Um hello? Sorry but I’m trying not to vomit, so I don’t got the time to wrack my brain for ideas.”

Isa sighed, speaking up in order to prevent a potential fight between the two. “The fact of the matter is that we don’t have many options. Calling or messaging any of them now would be suspicious. A call would reveal our location just as much as theirs. And with our looks altered thanks to the spell, we’re even more obvious. As for messaging, the only way to get information is to ask questions. And just from how they acted previously, questions on their whereabouts will be met with silence.”

Isa was right. They came here without much of a plan and now it’s come to bite them in the ass. With a heavy sigh Riku sat down facing the two. He rubbed at his face and tried to think of possible ideas they could try.

However suddenly the light above them was snuffed out. All three men looked up and saw dark clouds spilling over the sky and leaving behind only darkness. The water beneath them was starting to rock heavily and the wind was picking up.

“Um hey Riku, oh expert of ocean happenings? Do sea storms happen this fast??” Lea sat up fully, sickness forgotten in his rising panic. He may not have experience with the ocean, but even he knew an encroaching storm when he saw one.

Riku’s face was grim and he looked around their little ship, grabbing some rope coiled under one of the seats and yanking it up. He handed one end to Isa, “Tie a knot around yourself. Lea, take the rope after Isa does and tie yourself to him. Leave enough so I can tie myself to you both.”

“You’re worried we may get separated once the storm picks up.” Isa deduced as he tied a firm knot around his waist.

Once all three of them were safely harnessed to each other, the storm was in full swing. The wind had picked up and was rocking the boat precariously. The choppy waves rose higher and higher, splashing into the boat and soaking their clothes. With a sudden lurch the rowboat was knocked to the side, Isa cursing as he almost tipped over the edge. Riku and Lea darted forward, grabbing onto him and keeping him from falling out.

From side to side the boat rocked, all three of them clinging to the wood just as wave after wave knocked against them. The sky was black and rain had begun to fall in heavy showers, pelting down on them relentlessly. Lea blinked through the water running down his face, barking out a curse as he wrapped his arms around Isa and Riku’s shoulders without much warning.

A large wave crashed down over them and effectively drenched them to the bone. The three didn’t get a reprieve as another wave continued the effort of tipping their boat. The relentless slamming of the waves did not let up once. It was no surprise when one of them was finally knocked from the boat despite Lea’s grip.

Over the roar of the rain they heard Riku let out a cry. One moment he was there, the next he wasn’t. Isa and Lea reacted quickly, grabbing onto the rope around their waist and yanking. Riku surfaced from under the churning water with a gasp.

As they started pulling Riku over the edge of the boat, Isa froze when the little light over them darkened further. Snapping his eyes up, he was met with the sight of a large wave looming threateningly over them. Sound seemed to cut out in the split second before it fell and Isa felt as if he was watching it in slow motion. The next thing he knew the wave crashed down and swept them from their boat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional A/N: You'll notice that I put emphasis on Lea and Isa having Riku's heart symbol. That's because I'm using that symbol to signify that they're a crew :> Just like I put Sora's crown symbol on Roxas and Xion's outfits! So it isn't really anything important to the story, just something I thought would be fun to do.


	5. Pretty Prisoners

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Make note: Even if it's a friend you're tying up, a captor is still a captor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry for the wait! Life, ya know? But anyways here's chapter 5! I'm surprised with how much traction this fic has gotten! Hopefully the payoff is worth it! Honestly speaking I only see this fic being around 10 or so chapters? So not the longest thing I've ever written but also not the shortest. It might not even BE 5 chapters left if my planning is anything to go by. It could be less it could be more, I'm generally just going to see how the writing process goes and where I end up. But I thank you all for joining me on this ride! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

“Holy crud!” Sora called, shaking off the water clinging to his hat. “That storm came out of nowhere!”

Xion voiced her agreement, squeezing as much water as she could from her coat. “I’ll say. One moment it’s clear skies, the next it’s storming!”

Roxas was grimacing from where he sat. Because he hated the feeling of waterlogged shoes, he absolutely refused to walk around in them till they dried. “I feel like a drowned rat. Think we can use an areo to dry off?”

Sora offered a shrug, tilting his head and grinning. “It’s worth a shot.”

So the three of them gathered around Sora as he cast a simple wind spell. The breeze was powerful despite it not being the strongest of the air spells. Yet it did its job and the three musketeers were all completely dry.

Roxas smoothed out his fluffy blond locks and fixed up his clothes. “Storms at sea are no joke. If our boat had been any smaller we would’ve capsized.”

“That’s for sure.” Sora said, taking his spot back behind the helm. “Good thing we’ve got Calypso watching out for us!”

The other two nodded in agreement. With the excitement of the storm over, Roxas climbed back onto his perch and began staring out onto the horizon. He took a bite of the apple in his hand, having snatched one before returning to his job as lookout. He’d much rather enjoy the fruit brimming with juices instead of the dried ones Xion was prepping.

She had set up a little section of the ship dedicated to drying out their perishables. Since the sun was no longer obscured by clouds now was the perfect time to start. With each of them working on their own task, Sora hummed a nameless tune. If Roxas had to guess it was probably a sea shanty. Just as he was going to ask about the lyrics of the song something in the distance caught his eye.

He swallowed his mouthful of food and tossed the pit into the water. Roxas then stood tall and leaned forward in an attempt to get a better look. He felt his breath hitch in alarm after spotting what appeared to be three floating lumps in the distance. It looked like people!

“Captain!! Dead ahead, I think there’s people in the water!”

“What?!” Sora and Xion yelled in alarm.

Xion put a pause on her task and rushed to the front of the boat. Shrouding her eyes with a hand she squinted in her quick scan of the water. When she too saw the dark shapes she let out a noise of shock.

“Roxas is right! There are bodies in the water!”

With a frantic wave of his hand the sails dropped and caught the wind. The ship was propelled forward and thanks to Roxas’ directing Sora was able to pull alongside the shipwreck victims.

“How are we going to pull them up??” Xion leaned over the railing and stared down worriedly.

Roxas darted below deck before coming back up with his fishnet. Sora and Xion both praised him for his quick thinking and rushed to help. Hopefully it’d be strong enough to hold the three strangers. The three of them were able to fasten the net to a few sets of rope and tossed it into the water. They had dropped it further behind the three people and then rushed along the deck, pulling the net along. It worked perfectly and the three people were scoped up like the fish the net had been intended for.

Sora took a moment to double check that the people were tucked completely into the net before he tightened his grip on the rope and began shouting orders. “Ready? And heave!”

Behind him Xion and Roxas tugged as well, yelling out ‘ _heave’_ right after Sora. They chanted the same word over and over for no other reason than they simply could. Then, after much struggling, the net full of people was finally deposited on deck.

“Whew!” Sora exclaimed, wiping his brow with the back of his hand before moving over to the soaked lumps. “Think they’re still alive?”

“They’d better be. I don’t want to have gone through all that effort just to fish up dead people.” Despite Roxas’ tone it was clear he was just as worried as his two companions.

Sora didn’t bother to respond as he untangled one of the people from the net. Now that he really looked, the guy laying on his stomach seemed to have silver hair. Most of it was obscured by the wide-brimmed hat he wore, something Sora was surprised hadn’t been knocked off while the guy was at sea. However because the flash of silver hair made him instantly think of Riku, Sora didn’t hesitate in reaching down towards the man.

Sora grabbed the man’s face and tilted it to the side. Blue eyes widened and he let out an audible gasp. “Riku!”

His reaction caused both Xion and Roxas startle. They rushed to stand behind Sora and stare down at the man he was fretting over. It was indeed Riku. Water was running down his face and despite being unconscious he still had a small furrow in his brow.

Sora was attempting to roll Riku onto his back in order to place an ear close to his face. “Is he breathing?! Did they drown?!”

Roxas opened his mouth to respond yet paused as his eyes fell on the redhead in the pile.

He practically ripped the net off the other, grabbing pale cheeks and twisting the head up so he could see it. With a shocked nose Roxas dropped Lea. He didn’t even need to check the third person to know that it was Isa. He too was just as frantic as Sora in checking if Lea was breathing. Xion let the two of them panic while she worked on dragging Isa out of the net and making sure he too was fine.

“What are they doing here?!” Roxas hissed after making sure Lea hadn’t drowned.

Sora chewed on his lip nervously as his heart continued to do summersaults in his chest. “I think the better question is how they ended up in the water! Riku swims way better than I do! He wouldn’t drown so easily!”

“You guys, look.” Xion held up the rope that was tied around the three men’s waist. She frowned in thought, “Maybe they did have a boat but it got caught in the storm?”

Roxas crossed his arms over his chest and cocked a hip. “So they tied themselves together? Probably to not get separated in the storm.”

Sora mimicked Roxas’ pose, tapping his foot on the ground and looking up towards the sky as he hummed. “Mmmmaybe they came to the world and ended up on a raft? When Donald, Goofy, and I first came here, we were on a raft. It could be that the same thing happened to them.”

“That makes sense!” Xion smiled down at them, “It’s a good thing we were the ones to find them! I don’t want to think what could’ve happened if we missed them!”

Roxas allowed himself a moment to relax knowing their friends weren’t in any danger. However now that the initial panic had faded, that left the main problem. “So what are we going to do?”

“What do you mean?”

Was Sora really confused about what he meant?? Roxas gave him a pointed look and then forcefully gestured towards the pile of unconscious men at their feet. “Um hello??? This whole trip was to avoid them?? And now they’re here!”

Sora seemed to wince, “Oh… Right. Um what if we put them in a dinghy and… Ship em off?”

Xion nipped that idea right in the bud the moment she saw Roxas light up like he thought it was a brilliant suggestion. She stood between the two of them, hands on her hips and glaring with as much authority as she could. “No, no putting them in a dinghy! Our ship isn’t even big enough to have one! And even if it was, I’d still say no. Why don’t we just wait for them to wake up and then you guys can… Oh I don’t know **talk**?? About why you decided running away was the best option?”

“Not happening!”

“Out of the question.”

Xion rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Fine. Then let’s try and figure out a different plan that **doesn’t** involve shipping them off like cargo.”

Sora held his chin and hummed in thought. Beside him Xion and Roxas took on similar stances. Together they all made an attempt to think of a plan. One by one they tossed out ideas, most promptly rejected right after being said.

“What if we leave them on an island? They’re all resourceful, they can probably scavenge for food or something.” Roxas suggested.

“He has a point,” Xion said despite her frown, “But what if being caught in the storm got them sick? Or what if other pirates come by and take them as prisoners??”

“They can fight!”

“But not if they’re still unconscious!”

“Xion’s right.” Sora cut in, glancing at the two of them. “But so is Roxas. Ditching them somewhere is the best option. But we don’t necessarily have to leave them on an island. In fact…” Slowly a wide smile spread across Sora’s face. “What if… We leave them at Port Royal?”

Roxas shot Sora an incredulous look. “Port Royal? Are you kidding me?? They’d be arrested the moment they hit the sand! Just from a glance you can tell they’re pirates! Just really… Fancy pirates.”

“Ok then we won’t throw them to Port Royal! What about Tortuga? It’s a place for pirates to go to! Jack told me the location ages ago so I can probably point it out on a map!”

Again Roxas gave Sora a look, “What happened to not wanting to leave them in the clutches of pirates?”

Xion pursed her lips and contemplated Sora’s plan. “Well on the journey there, Riku, Lea, and Isa will most likely wake up. So they’ll be able to defend themselves if they need to.”

“And if they wake up, we can check if they’re ok or not.” Roxas finished with a nod. He placed his hands on his hips and looked down at the three. “Solid plan, but we can’t let them see us. If they realize that they found us then there’d be no reason.”

Once again Roxas made a valid point. Sora huffed a sigh and pouted for a moment longer. “We could always… Blindfold them? That way they wouldn’t be able to see us! And then if we tie them up then they can’t take the blindfolds off!”

“Oh, right!! And we can try talking in deeper voices to throw them off!” To demonstrate Xion took in a deep breath and then made her voice go a few octaves lower. “How about it? Do I sound different??”

Roxas and Sora both pulled a face. Xion deflated in a single exhale and pouted. “Ok, guess deepening doesn’t work for me. Then what about a higher pitch?” Once again Xion attempted to sound different and surprisingly the higher pitch seemed to be the better option.

With a plan finally put in place, Roxas worked on dragging the men over to the mast one by one. It would’ve been too much effort to take them below deck plus Roxas didn’t want to leave them somewhere out of sight. The safest option was to keep them above deck out in the open.

Xion worked on blindfolding them, giggling at the eyepatch over one of Isa’s eyes. “They all look pretty good as pirates.” She commented offhandedly.

“I guess,” Sora mused, glancing at Riku from where he sat watching the two work. “But Riku looks good in anything he wears so it isn’t no surprise.”

“Axel too. You’d think he was made to be a pirate with how he pulls off the look.” Roxas grunted as he tightened the ropes around said redhead’s wrists.

It was hard for Xion not to roll her eyes and snicker at the two. Wisely keeping her mouth shut, Xion took a step back in order to check over her work. All three “ _prisoners_ ” had their wrists bound behind their backs. Those bindings were then tied by Roxas to the mast in knots so firm they made Xion wince in sympathy. Finally their eyes were obscured by strips of cloth Xion had ripped from a bedsheet below deck. She wasn’t too broken up about it as they could always stop by Port Royal and pick up a new one the next time they swung by.

Since there really wasn’t much left to do after that, the three musketeers all returned back to their original tasks. Sora stood at the helm guiding Kingdom Keeper. Xion was by her station at the stern of the ship and laid out cut fruits to dry. Roxas was standing with them, leaning against the railing and keeping an eye on their prisoners.

The three had agreed sticking close to avoid shouting at each other from across deck was better to keep their cover. And they also agreed to refer to each other by their jobs aboard the ship. It was honestly the safest option in order to avoid detection.

About an hour into sailing the “ _prisoners_ ” finally began stirring. Lea was the first to move, groaning low in his throat. His head hurt and he felt achy all over. Not only that but he was soaked to the bone and that was just all kinds of uncomfortable!

He heard the sound of grumbling on either side of him and attempted to open his eyes in order to take in his surroundings. Yet when his eyes only registered the tinted splash of sunlight peeking through what he surmised was a blindfold, Lea felt a prickle of panic go through him. He tried to grab the cloth covering his face but realized quickly that his hands were bound behind his back.

Ok. Blindfolded and tied up. No problem, he’s been in worse situations before. The first thing to do is not to panic and instead take stock of his surroundings. From the sounds of it they were on a ship of sorts. The wood creaking and the waves hitting the boat were hard to miss, after all. Plus the wind blowing against his face was also another giveaway. And maybe the smell of salt in the air.

“Hey, Riku? Isa? You guys alive?” Lea tried to whisper as quietly as he could. He couldn’t tell if their captors were close by so he didn’t want to risk them knowing he was awake.

“Regretfully.”

Right ok, Isa was fine if his sarcasm was anything to go by. Turning his head to the right, he whispered Riku’s name once more. If Isa was on his left then Riku had to be on his right, right?

“Quiet,” The response finally came after the twelfth or so whisper of his name. Riku let out a hiss between his teeth. “My head is pounding.”

“Well we were caught in a storm. I’m surprised we didn’t die.” Isa shifted and quickly assessed the same things Lea did. They were bound, blindfolded, and had no clue where they were.

Riku came to the same conclusion not a moment after. He tested the ropes and found them to be quite firmly tied. “Wonder who fished us up.”

As if by magic, those very words seemed to summon their captors. The sound of heavy footsteps from a distance gradually began to grow closer and closer. From a rough guess Riku had to assume that there were three people. Not too bad. If anything they could probably take on these three strangers when the time called for it. Though it was only a matter of figuring out how they’d escape in the first place.

A pair of footsteps stopped in front of Riku, a voice clearing their throat before speaking. “Looks like ye be awake! Tell me, what brings o’ couple o’ pirates to these waters? Ya ain’t got no boat, did she sink to the depths?” The voice sounded playful and dry, a hint of sharpness underlying the raspy tone.

Riku blinked behind his blindfold, frowning slightly. He lifted his head and stared in the direction that voice came from. “We’re just passing through, we don’t want any trouble.”

“Hard to have trouble when ya be tied up.” Another voice said, this one gruffer than the first. It sounded like the person gargled nails for a living.

“He’s got a point.” Came Lea’s unhelpful chuckle.

Ignoring the redhead, Riku instead addressed the first voice. “Even if we’re tied up we still don’t want any trouble. If you would just let us go, we’ll get out of your hair without a fight.”

“But where would you go?” This third voice was really high pitched and sounded like nails on a chalkboard. It squeaked every now and again, almost like the person wasn’t used to speaking. “This out here be the open sea! Ya can’t just walk off and get out o’ our hair like ya say!”

The first voice grunted, cutting in and talking over the third voice. “Never mind what he’s sayin’! We’ve got a plan for you lot! No worries, you’ll be dropped off once we make port in Tortuga! Quartermaster, see to it they’re fed and hydrated! Don’t want em dying before we get there.”

“Wah- me??” The second voice, the Quartermaster, sounded offended at the demand.

“Of course you. The Sailing Master is too soft! Can’t let ‘em get too close to the prisoners.”

“Captain!” Came the third person’s voice.

The Captain laughed cheerily, clapping his hands. “Enough dillydallyin’! We’ve got a long trip ahead of us!”

“… Aye Captain.”

“Aye…”

With that their captors walked away, one of them going in a different direction. It took a while but eventually footsteps were stomping right back to them.

“If ya try anything, I’ll toss ya overboard so the sharks can deal with ye.” Came the Quartermaster’s threat.

Something was pressed against Riku’s lips that startled him. It took a split second for him to realize it was a canteen of water. He took a few gulps and ignored the small flicker of embarrassment at being handfed water. And based off the Captain’s orders, it seems like they were going to be handfed food as well.

As he predicted something else was indeed pressed to his lips when the canteen was pulled away. The smell alone gave away it was an orange so Riku had no qualms about eating it. The Quartermaster must’ve fed him an entire orange before moving over and doing the very same task to Isa. Riku and Isa had been quiet as they were fed water and food, yet Lea was never one to be quiet for long. Every time he opened his mouth to try and speak his words were cut off by the Quartermaster shoving an orange slice into his mouth. Yet when that ran out of course Lea was free to talk unhindered.

“Sweet of you to make sure we don’t starve to death.” He said with his usual grin.

The Quartermaster clicked their tongue, “It was an order. If I had it my way we would’ve put you lot in a dinghy and shipped ya off.”

Lea didn’t seem offended by the words and instead chuckled merrily. “You’re the type to follow orders, huh? Good to know. So what’s your name, Mr. Quartermaster?”

“None of your business.”

“I’ll tell you my name if you tell me yours.”

The Quartermaster heaved out a heavy sigh and seemed to be tapping their foot in annoyance. “No need. I don’t wanna hear it. Now stop talking before I decide to gag ye.”

Of course Lea never backed down in the face of threats. So as if to prove his point of being troublesome, the redhead continued to grin cheekily. Just when Riku and Isa were contemplating trying to kick the redhead between them, a shout from the stern got their attention.

“Captain! Up ahead!!” The high pitched voice yelped.

“Shit!” The sound of the water canteen being dropped was quickly followed by the Quartermaster’s feet running towards the ship’s bow. “Two Heartless—er two… Heartless scallywags… O-off the port bow!”

“We can’t fight now! It’s too risky!” The Sailing Master said.

Riku perked up, lifting his head and raising his voice to get the Captain’s attention. “We can fight! Let us help!”

“NO!”

The collective shout from those three voices was so abrupt a stunned silence followed. Then the Captain cleared his throat and croaked out. “Q-Quartermaster! You and Sailing Master fire if they get too close! I’ll focus on getting us away!”

“Got it.”

“Yes sir!”

While their captors rushed across deck and the sound of canon fire went off, Riku and the others were whispering softly amongst each other.

“You guys notice it too?” Lea asked under his breath, keeping an ear out for where the three captors were.

“The fact they’ve avoided using their names?” Isa already knowing the answer without even needing to ask.

Riku hummed in agreement, “And there’s only three of them from the sounds of it.”

Snickering, Lea leaned his head back and tapped it against the wooden beam. “So what’s the plan, oh glorious Captain Riku?”

“Well…” Riku trailed off as he slowly put together a makeshift plan.

By the time the excitement on deck died down the three had a plan. All they had to do was wait for the perfect moment. And who better to create a moment than Lea, King of Distractions?

The three musketeers grumbled in annoyance and complaints at the bad timing of the Heartless. They had managed to escape the ships pursuing them but it left them feeling haggard. Roxas and Xion sat on the steps leading up to the stern, Sora slumped over the helm. However their momentary peace was abruptly interrupted.

“Yoohoo! Mr. Quartermaster! I have a problem!” Came Lea’s cheerful tone.

Roxas bit back a groan, “Of course he does.” Still Roxas dutifully went over to the bound redhead. Along the way a weird smell reached his nose that had him frowning in suspicion. He couldn’t pinpoint the smell but it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand. Roxas stopped in front of Lea and crossed his arms over his chest. “What do ya want?”

Lea lifted his head and offered a smile that could be considered apologetic. “Well you see, there’s something wrong with my ropes!” Roxas had a moment to stiffen in shock and pinpoint what that smell was before Lea lurched towards him. An arm wrapped around his neck and trapped him in a headlock just as he was yanked towards the tall redhead. His back hit Lea’s chest and he was effectively trapped against the other.

By this point Xion and Sora had seen Lea move. They had to physically bite their own tongues to keep from shouting Roxas’ name. Yet that didn’t stop them from rushing forward like they were going to do something. But what could they do? Hit Lea? What if he decided to hurt Roxas while not knowing it was Roxas?? Yet the next words out of Lea’s mouth froze the three musketeers.

“You see, ropes and fire just don’t mix too well. And I’m all about them flames. Of course, you should’ve known that.” Lea hummed with a grin. He looked down at the blond held against his chest and reached up to remove the blindfold covering his eyes, “Don’t ya think, Roxy?”

Because the fabric had been thin enough to let sunlight filter through, Lea’s eyes didn’t have to adjust after being uncovered. So he could quite easily see that his guess had been correct. A stunned Roxas was in his arms and those baby blue eyes were wide with shock. A fleeting glance up confirmed that the other two crew members were indeed Xion and Sora, both just as dumbfounded as Roxas.

Lea’s grin turned lazy and the grip around Roxas relaxed. He leaned against the blond, “You guys are looking good! I can see why Sora likes this world. Though a little too much water, if you catch my drift.” He made a very obvious wink at Roxas, “Also you’re really working those heels! And I thought Isa was the only one crazy enough to have em.”

Roxas blushed, sputtering for a response and still too stunned to pull away. Thankfully he didn’t need to struggle for long.

“Lea.” Riku could be considered Roxas’ saving grace. Not that the blond would ever tell him that but still.

As Lea went over to unbind both Isa and Riku, Roxas rushed to Xion and Sora’s side. The three of them huddled together, Sora pointed a finger at their former “ _prisoners_ ” and stuttering in an attempt to try and figure out what had just happened.

“H-how… Lea said… Y-you guys knew?!!”


	6. Reasons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's gotta have a reason for doing things, yeah?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: And here's part 6! I don't particularly have much to say for this chapter other than I hope you enjoy! Thank you for the kind comments on the previous chapter, I greatly appreciated them!!

Riku stood up, rubbing his wrists while chuckling under his breath. “It wasn’t that hard to figure out. For starters there was only three of you and you wouldn’t say each other’s name. And the most obvious one,” At this Riku crossed his arms over his chest and smiled at Sora with furrowed brows. “I’ve known you since we were babies, Sora. I know what all your fake voices sound like.”

So basically from the very beginning Riku and the others knew it was them. Sora physically deflated and his shoulders slumped.

Xion looked over at Isa, her small smile looking a little crooked in embarrassment. “Was it really that obvious?”

Isa contemplated the question for a moment before he nodded. “I could somewhat assume it was you three. Riku and Lea simply confirmed my suspicions.”

Roxas clicked his tongue and muttered a curse under his breath. “I knew we should’ve tossed them overboard.” He then froze as he realized something. If the whole time their true identities were known, then that meant when Roxas was giving them food and water, they knew it was Roxas that had been hand feeding them. Roxas suddenly blushed from the tips of his ears all the way down his neck. He suddenly straightened and quickly rushed to change the subject. “So you found us! Now what?”

Sora took in a deep breath and he narrowed his eyes in determination. With the way he was dressed his glare seemed to give him a sharper edge, the boyish charm he usually supported nowhere in sight.

He stared straight at Riku, “Might I have a word with you, Captain Riku?”

Riku inclined his head and raised a hand to tip the brim of his hat. “Sure.”

Sora nodded and then turned to address Roxas and Xion. They snapped to attention, awaiting their orders. “Set a course for Keeper’s Cave, we’ll make dock there for the time being.”

Keeper’s Cave, as the trio had named it, was the cave they had found Kingdom Keeper in. It had been a tie between naming it Kingdom’s Cave and Keeper’s Cave. Xion was quite stubborn on her stance so as a compromise they named the beach they washed up on Kingdom Cove and the cave Keeper’s Cave.

“Captain Riku and I will be talking things over in me cabin! Mistress Xion, man the helm and teach mister Isa the ropes. Mister Roxas, keep on lookout and take mister Axel with ya.” Sora barked to the two.

With a firm chorus of “ _yes Captain_!” the two grabbed their charges and split off. Sora didn’t spare Riku a glance as he spun on his heel. His coat tails flared out dramatically from the action and he internally rejoiced at the level of coolness he was exuding.

Sora kept his head held high as he marched across deck towards his cabin. The second pair of footsteps was the only indication that Riku was following. Sora was first to go down the stairs into the Captain’s quarters and he took a seat behind the oak desk near the back.

Riku closed the hatch and made his own way down the stairs. Once he was on solid ground he let a small smile play along his face. “You’re really enjoying this pirate thing, aren’t you?”

“If ya don’t get in character to play the part, then what’s the point?” Sora huffed, his scowl more of a pout as he propped his feet up on the edge of his desk.

Riku hummed, taking a seat on one of the only chairs in front of the desk. “You have a point. But do you think you could put a pause on being Captain Sora and instead talk to me as normal Sora?”

Sora visibly hesitated. It was almost a full minute before he heaved a heavy sigh and dropped his boots to the floor. He slumped in his chair and leveled Riku with a tired frown.

“Why are you here, Riku? Is it because I ran away? That I got into a bar fight? Are you going to tell me that I was being stupid and that I should’ve just talked to you instead of avoiding the problem?”

Riku painstakingly mulled over his words before speaking. He knew if he said the wrong thing now Sora would most likely clam up and refuse to talk for ages. He’d been given the chance to talk to Sora, he’d best not blow it.

Riku started off slow, keeping his eyes firmly on Sora so he could see the sincerity in his gaze. “Of course not. Sora, you know I’d never think that. If you were being stupid, then so was I. I could’ve talked to you just as easily as you could’ve talked to me. But I didn’t express myself to you and because of that I… Drove you away.”

Riku sighed, lips dipping into a frown. “Sora, I’m not going to force you to leave. I know you hate being caged in and I unintentionally did that to you. I’m sorry for that. I was just… Worried. And afraid.”

The fact that he was admitting such things left Sora a little awestruck. To Sora, Riku had been an unshakable object since childhood. Of course now that he was older he knew that wasn’t the case. Riku could break just like any other person. But knowing was one thing while seeing was another. Or in this case hearing.

Hearing Riku be honest about his fear and worry made something in Sora shift. If Riku could put aside his pride in order to be honest… Perhaps Sora could too?

“When you disappeared after bringing Kairi back I felt like it was partially my fault. Don’t get me wrong I knew you could bring her back. I always have faith in you being able to do these amazing things!” Riku pushed his bangs from his face, causing his hat to sit skewed on his head. If this wasn’t such a serious situation Sora may have laughed. “But then you disappeared. And I just… Lost it? Kairi always said I had a sixth sense for finding you. Never knew how right she was till then… And when I found you I was afraid that any moment you’d disappear again. Only this time I wouldn’t be able to find you. I was afraid that one moment you’d be there and the next you’d be gone. That you’d disappear from my life and I could never tell you…” At this Riku trailed off and he quickly glanced away. “T-tell you how much you matter. You’re my best friend, Sora. You put yourself in harm’s way to protect others all the time. But I’m worried the next time you do it, you won’t walk away from it.”

The heavy silence in the air was kind of suffocating. Even if they cracked open the little port window near Sora’s desk it probably wouldn’t have been able to air out all the tension. Riku swore he could’ve cut through it with his hand alone, Keyblade or knife unneeded.

Suddenly Sora grit his teeth and launched up from his seat. He stomped out from behind his desk, pacing back and forth like a caged animal. He would cross his arms over his chest before his limbs jerked to rest at his sides, only to go right back to crossing over his chest again. Hands clenched just as hard as his teeth, Sora finally settled with standing in front of his window and staring out hard at the rolling sea before them.

“Riku, do you know why I left without telling you?”

Having a feeling his comment of “ _late teenage rebellion_ ” wouldn’t be appreciated in this moment, Riku instead said, “I have my own ideas, but I’d like to hear from you directly.”

Sora breathed shakily, holding the air in his lungs till they began to ache. Then after his rushed exhale, Sora closed his eyes and leaned his back against the wall.

“I’ve seen a lot of worlds since I first left Destiny Island. In a lot of worlds I’ve seen people… Lose others. Sometimes they would sacrifice themselves for each other and yes it’s scary at the time, but usually in the end it turns out ok! Except… That’s not always the case. This world we’re in now is an example of that.

“My friends here… They went through sacrifices that left two people separated by a literal ocean. But they managed to make it work. It hurt to see but at least they both lived in the end…” Sora’s hands clenched hard enough to dig crescents into his palms. “A few worlds back I also kinda ran into something similar. Only this time I was pretty sure… Flynn had died. He died to keep Rapunzel safe. And he had seemed… Content with that. To die just to protect her…”

Sora missed the look of shock on Riku’s face thanks to his eyes being closed. However not a moment after those blue eyes snapped open and were shining with an overwhelming amount of emotion.

“And I just can’t risk that with you!”

The near shout had not been what Riku was expecting. So he was simply left speechless in the wake of Sora’s sudden burst of emotion. The brunette went right back to pacing, abusing his bottom lip by incessantly biting into it.

“You’re worried I’ll disappear for good but that’s exactly the very same thing I’m worried about with you! It’s happened before! You were always by my side growing up! But then the Darkness came and you left me! And I searched for you for so long and when I finally found you, you pushed me away. I’ve never held that against you, but at the time it hurt so much! Every time I got you back there was a part of me always worried I’d lose you again. And back at the Keyblade Graveyard… You…”

Here Riku could see tears glittering in the corners of Sora’s eyes. His body jerked with the aborted motion to rush to Sora’s side. He wanted to go and comfort him but Riku knew that right now the gesture wouldn’t be appreciated. Sora needed to get this all off his chest. So Riku stayed sitting and held the arms of the chair in a death grip. Even when the wood creaked and his knuckles turned white from the strain, Riku did not move.

Sora sucked in a shaky breath, sniffing and rubbing at his face. It didn’t stem the growing tears and only served in smearing the dirt on his face. “You did what I was worried would happen. But you’ve always been like that. Even when you weren’t directly by my side you were protecting me. So I know just from experience alone if it ever came down to it you’d protect me again.” Sora sniffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “But I just… Can’t risk losing you Riku. You’re important to me too.”

Despite knowing that Sora thought highly of him, Riku still found himself stunned into silence. He sat there, staring at Sora for a long while. Both of them were afraid of the same thing. Yet both of them were willing to lay down their lives for their important people. And both of them had been too stubborn and cowardly to actually talk to each other about it. Riku was afraid of Sora disappearing on him, yet often times he’d be the one to disappear. And Sora was worried Riku would sacrifice himself to protect Sora, but the other would willingly do the same without hesitation.

“We’re… Hypocrites, don’t you think?” Riku said with a wry grin.

Sora gave an equally strained smile, “Yeah. You’d think we would’ve learned to talk to each other after everything that’s happened.”

Riku finally felt that now was the perfect time to finally offer some comfort to Sora. He stood from his seat and took a few steps over forward. Just as he was lifting his arms in an offering of a hug, Sora was already across the room and clinging to him like a stubborn barnacle.

Arms tightening around Sora’s shoulders, Riku sighed and patted his back. The grip around his waist was tight, fingers digging into the back of his coat. Sora propped his chin on Riku’s chest, pouting up at him with eyes still glistening from the remnants of tears.

“I’m sorry for leaving without talking to you first.”

Riku’s heart squeezed and he smiled down at Sora. “And I’m sorry for sticking to you like glue.”

Sora snorted, “I don’t hate it when you stick to me. That’s not what bugged me. You treating me like I’d go “ _poof_ ” if you took your eyes off of me is what I hated. Can’t you trust me enough to know that I’ll come back?”

It wasn’t an outrageous request, not by a longshot. And while Riku had bottomless trust for Sora, that didn’t seem to matter in the face of Riku’s worry. Still for Sora he’d try.

“I promise I’ll try. But it won’t be easy. I’m always going to worry about you.” If anything Riku had to admit at least that.

Sora grinned like he already knew what Riku’s answer was going to be. Patting Riku’s lower back, Sora pulled away from their hug and took a step away. “I figured. You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t worry about me! But that just means I’ve got every right to worry about you too! No going back on your word either!”

Riku smirked, “I don’t plan to.”

With a firm nod of his head Sora placed his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest. “Good!” Then with a happy hum he turned and stretched before plopping back down behind his desk. “Well I’m beat! As fun as being a pirate is, there’s no room for two Captains on a boat!”

Quirking a silver brow, Riku took his own seat and crossed his arms over his chest. “Oh? What are you going to do? Have my crew and I walk the plank?”

Sora pursed his lips, “Mmm Roxas might, but he’s not the Captain so he doesn’t get the final say.” Sora shook his head and leaned forward in order to place his hands on his desk. “But no, that’s not what I meant! I was going to say we should all go to a different world! I promised Xion I’d show it to her the next trip we took, so now’s the perfect chance to go!”

“Ok… But before that,” Riku frowned and gestured to the ship around them. “How did you even get this…?”

“The ship? Well for starters her name is Kingdom Keeper, and second she’s a gift! Though she isn’t the first ship I’ve gotten in this world. But that’s a pretty long story.” Sora exclaimed with pure enthusiasm.

The patient look he received and that familiar quirk of Riku’s brow indicating he was interested was enough permission for Sora to start on his long story.

“So it began with Donald, Goofy, and I on a raft in the ocean in the middle of the night…”

//

Lea happily chewed on an orange slice as he hung from the yard. Next to him sat Roxas, the blond doing his best impression of a porcelain statue. He stared straight ahead, not uttering a single word and barely moving an inch. The only sign he was even alive was the way his brow would furrow in thought and his chest would expand and contrast with air.

Lea swallowed his mouthful of fruit before nudging the other with his foot. “Nice ship ya got here. I’m pretty envious. We started out with a little rowboat in the middle of nowhere.”

That finally got a reaction out of Roxas. He snorted, his shoulders slumping minutely. “You started better than we did, actually. We didn’t even have Kingdom Keeper to begin with, let alone a rowboat. We woke up on a beach choking on sand. And let me be the first to tell you that heels and sand? Stupid mix. Worst possible combination.”

“I could’ve told you that. And Isa’s got longer heels than you! Definitely going to break something if he ain’t careful.” Lea popped another slice into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. “So if you didn’t start out with a ship, how did you guys get one?”

“Found her in a cave.” Roxas shrugged, “Sora was convinced she was a gift from the ocean goddess Calypso. Given the fact that he has the most experience in this world and we were quite literally led to Kingdom Keeper by a crab, I didn’t have any reason to doubt him.”

Lea whistled in awe, “Sounds pretty wild. But! I know the kind of kid Sora is so it makes sense. If anyone could charm a Goddesses with their cuteness it’d be him. Though now that I think about it…” Lea frowned and gave Roxas a calculating look. “Can Calypso control the weather?”

Roxas frowned at him, “I think? Sora implied she can so it’s most likely. Why?”

“Well when we were in our rowboat and talking about how to find you three, I was speaking out loud and I think I said your names? Next thing we know we’re in the water! Then we wake up and out of all the people to find us in this endless sea, it’s you three!” Lea grinned and bit into another slice. “Sounds like a pretty big coincidence, don’t you think?”

Now that Lea said it Roxas had to admit he was right. He hadn’t thought about it before but now he could see the same conclusion Lea had. He nodded in agreement, leaning back on his hands and swinging his legs. “Looks like Calypso helped you out as well.”

“Maybe she has a thing for redheads.”

Roxas wrinkled his nose in distaste at the joke. He stared at Lea like he was contemplating pushing him off the yard. Lea didn’t seem at all worried at the potential murderer next to him and instead took one of the few remaining orange slices and placed it to Roxas’ lips.

“Allow me to return the favor from earlier?”

Clearly Lea didn’t expect Roxas to agree. Knowing how prickly he could be, Lea was probably waiting for Roxas to hiss at him like an irate cat and turn away. But when he left Yen Sid’s tower, Roxas had come to his own decisions. Somehow being out in the open sea really helped him come to a conclusion on what had been bothering him before they left.

And so, mind made up, Roxas looked dead into Lea’s eyes and opened his mouth. When Roxas bit into the orange slice and pulled it from Lea’s hand, he swore he could hear Lea’s jaw pop from how fast it dropped.

Not at all doing anything to hide his smirk, Roxas finished off the orange slice and hummed. “A little too sour for my tastes.”

Lea cleared his throat and dragged his eyes away from the blond. Closing his mouth with a clack, he cleared his throat once more before daring to speak. “Y-yeah. Well I always liked a little kick to things. Keeps life interesting.” He finished the last bit of orange before scrubbing his hands over his pants. “So why’d you join Sora out here anyways? I know it wasn’t just you wanting to keep an eye on him. That’s a Xion move, not a Roxas.”

Roxas rolled with the change in topic. He sighed through his nose and leaned forward so he could rest his elbows on his knees. “I needed to get away. My heart was pulling my mind in too many different directions. Xion tried to help, to talk me through it and crap, but there’s just some things talking won’t do any good with. So when Sora presented me with the opportunity to have a change of scenery I took it. And this was what I needed. Even if we weren’t here for long, being out on the open sea really helped me think about what was troubling me.”

“Ah,” Lea nodded slowly. He tilted his head, glancing at Roxas from the corner of his eye. “And did you figure it out?”

Smiling lightly, Roxas nodded his head. “Yeah, I did.”

Lea grinned at the soft answer. He chuckled and slung an arm over Roxas’ shoulders, pulling him close and ruffling his hair with the same hand.

“Good! Save the brooding for Riku and Isa. You’re better at being our little firecracker.”

Roxas appreciated the fact that even though Lea was obviously curious about what had been bugging him, he was still polite enough to not dig into it. So Roxas allowed himself to laugh and lean into the hold.

“I thought you were the one with the fire shtick.”

“Oh I am. But while you’re the little firecracker, I’m the actual fire. You go for the ankles and I aim for the knees.”

Roxas made an inelegant snort and shoved at Lea. His precarious wobbling along the beam did nothing to stem the redhead’s cackling. Lea enthusiastically threw his arm back around Roxas’ shoulder and caused the other to sway just as dangerously as him.

Down on the stern Xion paused in laying out the drying fruit in order to look up at the two messing around above them. She smiled gently and felt some of the weight on her shoulders lift.

“I’m glad they’re finally talking. Hopefully Sora and Riku are also working things out.” She said aloud, earning a glance from the blue haired man beside her.

Isa kept his hands on the wheel, having took up manning the helm after Xion’s teachings. He as an extremely quick learner that only needed the occasional adjustment from Xion. It left her plenty of time to work on their rations.

After a while of silence he inclined his head towards her. “If it was so important to get them to talk, wouldn’t it have been better to shut them in a room together till they worked out their differences?”

Xion shook her head, “That might eventually work for Sora, but not for Roxas. He would’ve just buried everything deeper and refuse to think about it. He doesn’t like being made to do things.” She turned back to her task at hand, slicing up the apples and setting them out on the rudimentary drying rack. “Coming out here was the best thing for the both of them. It gave them a change of scenery and much needed time apart. Sora can’t process his own feelings about Riku with Riku always being there. Same for Roxas and Lea. Sometimes distance is what someone needs to work things out.”

Isa found himself nodding after a moment of thinking it over. Xion knew Sora and Roxas more than Isa did so he could only believe what she said to be fact. However if there was one person he did know, it was Lea. He glanced up at the redhead that was panicking as he tried to pull a dangling Roxas back on the yard. Isa wisely averted his eyes and stared straight ahead.

“Lea was the one who insisted we go after you. On the way here he told me about a dream he had. He only gave me sparse details but it left him feeling worried for Roxas.”

Xion frowned, “Dreams are… Important.” She took in a deep breath and set down the apple she’d been cutting. “I think for it’d be best if we didn’t bring it up. It isn’t our dream so we can’t be the one to talk about it. If Lea wants to tell Roxas about it then that’s his choice. All we can do is stand back.”

Isa gave a small hum in acknowledgement. He glanced at the map next to him before spinning the helm left and winding the ship around an outcropping of rocks. Xion too looked at the map and then at their surroundings. If she had to guess then they were probably about an hour away from Keeper’s Cave. Knowing it was bound to be a long journey ahead of them, Xion sighed to herself. She wouldn’t admit it aloud, but Xion felt a wave of unease welling up inside her and she didn’t like it at all.


	7. Stranger Danger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Never go to a second location with strangers if that location is isolated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: And here's chapter 7! I can only see this fic having two or so chapters left before it concludes! That's right, we're almost there! Thank you so much for sticking with me thus far and my first delve into writing for Kingdom Hearts. The style for this fic is rather different compared to my other works. But I don't really think that's a bad thing! Most of this fic is centered on comedy anyways (for now at least :^) ) I'd apologize for the cliffhanger but if there's one thing you need to know about me, it's that I love cliffhangers~

Sora pulled the ship to a stop near the world. From where their Gummi Ship was stationed they could easily see Riku’s ship pull up next to them. They could even make out the forms of the three men without squinting too hard.

Sora waved his arm like he was trying to draw Riku’s attention. In his hand he was flashing his phone, pointing at it and mouthing silently.

Roxas and Xion watched him with varying levels of amusement. “You know you could just call him yourself instead of trying to pantomime it?”

Sora paused, his hands dropping and he flashed a sheepish look to his two friends. With a grin Sora laughed and scratched the back of his head. “Right. Yeah. Forgot about that!”

Still Sora didn’t get the chance to even pull up Riku’s contact information as his phone was already going off. Sora answered, face lighting up at the sight of Riku. He was smirking amusedly at Sora, a brow quirked in question.

“Riku!”

“ _Sora_ ,” Riku answered dutifully, “ _Is this the world you wanted to go to_?”

Sora nodded excitedly at the screen. “Yep! When you guys land we should end up in the same place. But in case we don’t just head straight to the kingdom! Meet us in the town square and from there I’ll introduce you guys to Rapunzel and Flynn!”

“ _Got it. See you down there_.”

“ _Stay safe, Roxy_!” Lea shouted from the background.

Roxas glared at Xion the moment a muffled giggle slipped past her lips. Clapping a hand over her mouth, it did little to hide her sheepish smile. Roxas huffed, cheeks dusted a light pink as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Raising his voice he yelled at Sora’s phone, “Xion’s here too! Aren’t you worried about her being safe?!”

“ _Xion’s a smart cookie. She won’t pick fights with people like a feral Chihuahua_!”

“What?!” Ignoring Xion and Sora’s laughs, Roxas shot up and charged over towards Sora. The brunette quickly stood up on his chair in order to gain more height over Roxas and keep his phone out of range.

“Sorry Riku gotta go! We’ll see you down there!”

Sora hung up and stowed away his phone, giving Roxas a pointed look. “Geez calm down! You know Axel was just trying to get under your skin!”

Xion stood up and took Roxas by the arm, gently coaxing him back to his seat. “Sora’s right. Lea likes riling you up a lot more than any of us **because** you react like this.”

Clearly Roxas wasn’t pleased with their words but he couldn’t really refute them. With a click of his tongue Roxas grumbled unintelligibly before flopping back down on his chair. Sora and Xion shared an amused look before Sora pointed down towards the world they were circling.

“Alright! Enough of Roxas’ issues with being compared to a small dog! Let’s go!”

///

Once they were down on the world walking along a path Sora was familiar with, the trio found themselves relaxing just as much as when they’d been on the Kingdom Keeper.

“It’s really pretty out here.” Xion said with a hum. She looked up at the trees branching over them, making the sunlight stream through in breaks.

The two boys gave nonverbal sounds of agreement. Sora was leading the three of them since he’d been to this world before. And like he was a guide giving a tour, Sora would point out places and mention something about them. Thinks like “ _Donald really likes finding ingredients over there_ ” or “ _There’s a tower hidden in there_ ”. Little things that both Xion and Roxas absorbed like sponges. They liked hearing about the world from Sora’s point of view. It was soothing in a strange and unique kind of way.

So far along their journey through the woods and flower fields they had yet to run into Riku and the others. Sora was convinced they probably did land somewhere else and would eventually encounter one another in due time.

As the three musketeers made their way into the city of Corona, they found themselves in the middle of bustling excitement. People were setting up banners and streamers of varying colours, laugher and the warm smell of cooking pastries hanging in the air. The three of them had to press in close and cling to each other just to avoid getting separated in the crowd.

“I wonder what’s going on!” Sora exclaimed, eyes bright as he stared at the decorations. Clearly a celebration of sorts was happening but it wasn’t entirely clear what it was for.

Flowers were being strung up high, ribbons twisting in and out of banners while flags boasted the city’s symbol. The lively atmosphere was practically infectious. Sora and the others hadn’t been in the city for long and already they were bouncing in excitement. They were so distracted from the prospect of enjoying the unnamed celebration that they’d almost forgotten the reason they were there in the first place. It wasn’t till Sora heard a familiar voice kindly giving orders that he snapped out of his daze.

“Come on! This way!” Sora exclaimed, tugging Xion and Roxas through the crowd.

They left the main streets and cut their way into the center courtyard of the capital city where a group of people were surrounding a girl with brightly shining gold hair. She had her arms spread wide and was gesturing excitedly to one of the buildings.

“Maybe we can tie some knots in the streamers and tuck the roses into them? And then hang them from the roof so that they’re like a curtain! Ooh! Or maybe we can pluck the petals off and then have people wait on the roof to toss them down in a rain when mom and dad stand in the center!”

The second option seemed to be the favourite so that was what the group decided on. With the plan set in motion, the girl began splitting some people off into petal picking duty. She also made sure to pick a few people to be the ones standing on the roof to toss the flower petals.

Though Sora was reluctant to interrupt her, he had a feeling if he didn’t say something now he’d never get a chance to. So, letting go of Roxas’ hand he waved towards the girl enthusiastically, happily shouting “Rapunzel!”

That got her attention. Rapunzel paused and glanced over her shoulder. Her face instantly lit up into a beaming smile when she realized who it was that called her. Rapunzel quickly excused herself from the group in order to run and envelop Sora in a tight hug.

They both laughed happily as she made a valiant attempt to lift him off the ground. Since she didn’t manage that, Rapunzel settled for rocking the two of them from side to side.

“Sora! I missed you so much!!”

“Same here!” Sora and Rapunzel leaned away from each other. The brunette made a grand gesture to Rapunzel, “Your hair! It’s yellow again! And long! I thought Flynn cut it back then!”

Rapunzel giggled, tucking a few stray strands behind her ear. The thick locks were up in their usual densely packed braid, but having been running around all day a few strands had managed to slip from their tight hold.

“Yeah, he did! But well a lot of things happened with this magical pedestal and well!” She spread her arms wide, “Ta-da! Back to long magic hair!”

Sora nodded and took the information in stride. Having seen all different kinds of things in many different worlds, the idea of a magic slab of rock suddenly re-growing someone’s hair and changing the colour wasn’t too farfetched.

After some light banter was exchanged, Sora was reminded he hadn’t introduced Xion and Roxas when the only natural blond of the group loudly cleared his throat.

“Oh right!” Sora exclaimed. He beckoned forward his two friends and got straight to the introductions. “Rapunzel I want you to meet Xion and Roxas! They’re good friends of mine and I wanted to take them Corona to meet you and Flynn!”

Rapunzel clapped her hands excitedly and threw her arms around Xion in an enthusiastic hug before tugging Roxas into one. “It’s so nice to meet Sora’s friends! Oh! Sorry I should’ve asked if you guys minded hugs or not!” She said sheepishly when she pulled away.

Xion gave her a reassuring smile, “No, you’re fine! We don’t mind hugs, right Roxas?”

The inarticulate grunt and shrug were as much of an answer as they were going to get, apparently. Roxas seemed to be looking around and keeping an eye out for something. Or… Someone. Yet when he didn’t catch a glimpse of obnoxiously bright red hair he let his shoulders slump slightly.

Sora and Xion both noticed the action, the former giving Rapunzel another grin. “We actually came here with three other friends but we kind of got separated along the way! So now we’re just waiting for them to show up so I can introduce them to you as well!”

Rapunzel seemed to smile even wider at that. She nodded, “Well we can look around for them if you’d like? I just have to ask someone to take over giving out decorating duties for the time being.”

“That’s right I meant to ask, but what are you guys decorating for?” Sora asked.

“Oh! You probably don’t know this but it’s my parent’s anniversary! They don’t usually celebrate it on a grand scale like this, but I managed to convince them to let me throw a party for them! So we’re decorating the central square since this is where the main event will be held! There’s going to be food, drinks, music, dancing, all the works!!” Rapunzel was practically bouncing from all the excitement thrumming through her veins.

With a promise to return quickly, Rapunzel went back to the group of citizens and quickly passed on her duties. Soon the four of them were wondering through the streets of Corona. With a brief description on what their missing friends looked like Rapunzel knew what to look out for. But while they did have the intention of looking for Riku and the others, the group of four still found themselves taking frequent breaks in order to have fun with the celebration preparations or to just talk.

During one such break they had been sitting around a table when a crown of flowers was suddenly dropped on Xion’s head. She blinked in surprise, looking up into the grinning face of a familiar redhead.

A chorus of “ _Lea_ ” and “ _Axel_ ” was shouted by the musketeers when they realized it had been him to deposit the flower crown. Several feet behind him was an exasperated looking Isa and a gently smiling Riku.

Sora practically launched from his seat, rushing to the silver haired man and bouncing in front of him. “Riku! What took you guys so long to get here?? We’ve been wondering around the city for hours!”

Riku chuckled as he raised a hand to ruffle Sora’s hair. “I’ve never been here before, Sora. Neither have Isa or Lea. We got lost in the forest for a good while.”

“Ah, that makes sense.” Xion said from where she sat. She adjusted her flower crown as Lea leaned against the back of her chair. “We probably would’ve gotten lost if Sora hadn’t been leading us.”

“How’d you guys even get out of the woods if you were so lost in the first place?” Roxas took a large bite of his strawberry turnover. The blond sent a warning glare towards Lea when green eyes landed on the delicacy in his hand. The look, of course, went ignored.

“We ended up finding a rather rundown house. The people living there were kind enough to take us to the city’s edge since they were heading here themselves.” Isa explained.

Sora nodded, tugging Riku over to the table. “Well glad you guys made it at least! And since you’re all here I can introduce you guys to Rapunzel! Rapunzel, these are my other friends. The guy over there trying to eat Roxas’ entire hand is Lea. Or Axel. He doesn’t really seem to care which name you use for him… Anyways the tall quiet one is Isa, and this is Riku!”

Rapunzel’s smile didn’t falter even at the distressed screeching coming from Roxas and his fight to keep his pastry away from Lea. Already a good chunk had been bitten from one side and the strawberry filling was leaking out along Roxas’ hand.

“Axel for fucks sake go get your own!!”

“Sharing is caring, Roxy!”

Tilting her head, Rapunzel glanced at the plate of strawberry turnovers resting innocently on the table. Xion was quick to speak when it looked like Rapunzel was going to point out the available treats to the redhead.

“It’s best to just let it slide. Lea likes riling up Roxas any chance he can get. They’ll calm down on their own.”

True to her word Roxas did eventually stop his hissing. He even held out the remainder of the turnover so Lea could happily wolf it down. Isa’s displeasure at the poor manners was only known through the furrow in his brows and the slight downward tick of his mouth. The only thought running through his head was “ _did Lea really need to eat out of his hand like a dog_?” Of course being the wise man he was, Isa instead averted his eyes and decided to ignore everything going on that side of the table.

“Well it’s very nice to meet you all! And since we’re all together now I can give you guys the rundown of the celebration!! And a basic timeline of when we want everything to go down.” Rapunzel said beamingly before delving into a thoroughly detailed explanation of the party’s schedule.

At dusk Rapunzel would be bringing her parents from the castle to the main square. There they’d take a seat and a few performances would happen. Then time would be taken for Rapunzel to say a speech before letting her parents talk to each other about their love or something along those lines. Then the music would start, the snacks and drinks would be served, and the dancing would commence!

It was only a basic layout with a rough timeline so nothing was entirely set in stone. The only thing that was needed was the final preparations. The remaining decorations needed to be hung up, the band needed to be double-checked, and a few other miscellaneous things.

With nothing better to do Sora volunteered him and his friends to help Rapunzel finish getting everything ready for the party. Of course she didn’t turn down the help. With more hands on board things got done even faster than before. Pretty soon preparations were finished and all was left was the wait for dusk!

Rapunzel had extended an offer for the group to join her at the palace for dinner. There wasn’t much reason to reject her offer so the group followed her towards the castle. All the while they failed to notice the several pairs of eyes that had been watching them for most of the day.

///

“Rapunzel really outdid herself with this!” Xion exclaimed with a giggle.

“I’ll say! It’s a relief Axel was able to step in when the juggler was a no-show. Who knew he could juggle!” Sora said with a laugh.

Roxas snorted and stared pointedly at the redhead happily conversing with a group of girls in a corner of the courtyard. They were handing him little items and urging him to try juggling them. Roxas pursed his lips and averted his eyes, “I mean its Axel, should we be that surprised? He **is** a clown after all. Though I do think setting the batons on fire was a little much.”

Sora quirked a brow, “Yeah, but its Axel.”

“Oh true.”

“Very true.”

All three of them nodded in agreement. There was no denying that the redhead was as flashy as they came. The only one probably flashier was Demyx. But even then it was a neck-and-neck race.

Other than the little mishap of missing talent the celebration went off without a hitch! They’d just finished up the speeches and the crowd was still gushing over the sweet words the King and Queen swapped with each other. It was enough to warm the heart from the very depths of one’s soul. Especially the cute little kiss they shared afterwards with the flower petals raining down around them.

After that marked the start of the “ _real_ ” party. The band was currently being set up so in the meantime everyone waited around mingling. Sora, Roxas, and Xion had nabbed a table for themselves and were chatting languidly while they watched what went on around them. They mused on the events that happened recently and lamented over other things. One of them being their ship and all the goods they still had on it.

“I really hope the food doesn’t go bad. We spent a lot of money getting all the supplies.” Xion frowned. She’d done her best to pack it all away but there was no guarantee everything wouldn’t spoil.

 Sora shrugged, “I mean it’s a magic ship. Calypso might make it so that the food doesn’t… Spoil?”

“Can she even do that?”

The only answer Sora could give was a shrug. He wasn’t an expert on Goddesses. For all he knew she could make unicorns emerge from the sea. It was best not to try and guess what she could do.

Their attention was stolen from their potential rotting produce by the sounds of the band starting up. They looked up towards the source of the sound and watched as Rapunzel gave a thumbs up to people playing instruments before spinning around. Her eyes darted across the crowd before they landed on Sora’s table. She grinned, quickly gesturing towards him.

Sora stood and said towards Xion and Roxas, “Come on let’s dance! I’ll teach you guys the moves!”

Sharing in Sora’s excited smile, both Xion and Roxas pushed away from the table and rushed to follow him. People were already falling into step for the dance, Sora taking Rapunzel’s right while Xion landed on her left and Roxas settled on Sora’s other side.

The brunette gave a quick explanation of the dance that Rapunzel helped to explain. However the one thing they agreed on was that it was easier to just go with it and learn as you danced. No one would make fun of you for messing up here! Sora had enough stories of stepping on toes to be a professional on that opinion.

With the first whistle of the flute and the strum of the strings the dancing had begun. They first began in a circle, locking arms and spinning around as people bounced to the beat. Eventually they broke up in order to dance in their own consecutive smaller circles. Sora and Roxas locked hands and spun around each other, skipping along to the music before Sora grinned and twirled Roxas.

The blond laughed loudly and shoved playfully at Sora. He got back at the other by grabbing his hand and spinning him into a dip. Of course he over estimated how far he should lean and very nearly almost dumped Sora on the floor. Thankfully Roxas overcorrected just in time and pulled back so they only stumbled slightly. Still the two continued laughing, splitting off from the little circle they were in just to join into the large circle forming once more in the center.

This time when they broke away it was Roxas and Xion who were dancing together. Their laughter was drowned out by the music and cheers around them. They stomped and clapped to the beat, twisting in order to lock hands once again.

Suddenly Roxas’ hand was snatched before Xion could reach him. A familiar tall redhead casually slid between them and tossed a wink at Xion. “Mind if I cut in?” Without waiting for a response he wrapped his other arm around Roxas’ waist and whisked him away.

Xion snorted, not at all upset that her dance partner had been stolen. She wasn’t without a partner for long. A hand was suddenly held in front of her and she looked up into the impassive face of Isa.

“May I?”

His gentle request was met with a warm smile. Xion nodded, taking his hand and joining him in the dance. Several feet away twirling with his own partner was Sora. He jumped and kicked his feet out with flair, dipping his dance partners or just marching with linked arms. When he felt someone tap his shoulder the brunette spun around with an impossibly wide grin in place. It only managed to grow when he saw who it was trying to get his attention.

“Riku!”

Sora nabbed Riku’s hand and pulled him into the fray. The two fell into step quite quickly, proof of a pair that worked in tandem for years. Riku had a hand settled on the small of Sora’s back, the other clutching his hand as they skipped in a circle. Laughter bubbled unhindered from Sora and he was flushed from the exertion of dancing and the fun he was having.

Riku was no better. His cheeks were a blotchy red and despite the occasional glance to his feet, he managed to keep his eyes mostly on Sora. He soaked up the radiant smile being directed his way. It was blinding and had his heart twisting and his face flushing for an entirely different reason.

From the corner of Sora’s eye he could see Lea spinning with Roxas, the shorter of the two stumbling to keep up with the quickened movements. Still he looked happy despite the obviously embarrassed flush turning him into a ripe tomato.

“Having fun?” Riku called over the noise around them.

Sora turned his attention back to those teal eyes and bobbed his head in agreement. “Yeah! What about you?”

Riku hummed, taking Sora’s hand and twirling him before they went back to facing each other. “It’s pretty lively here. I can see why you like it.”

“Yeah! Rapunzel’s a lot of fun to be around!” Sora nodded in agreement. He hesitated a moment before narrowing his eyes in determination and taking Riku’s hand firmly. Though the other was nearly a head taller than Sora, he still tried his hardest to twirl him. And thankfully Riku understood what Sora wanted to do without him even needing to ask.

Riku allowed himself to be twirled, a soft chuckle escaping him when his hands settled back on Sora’s waist. Sora merely grinned in response. When the music suddenly reached a crescendo Sora watched as many of the male dancers took their partner by the waist and lifted them up followed by a quick spin.

It was a moment too late for him to realize just where Riku’s hands were. With a gasp Sora was lifted into the air, his hands scrambling to cling to Riku’s shoulders. He stared down at him with wide eyes as he was easily spun in the air. The moment seemed to last forever, Riku and Sora keeping eye contact the entire time. Even the squawk behind him that sounded suspiciously like Roxas followed by Lea’s cackling laughter couldn’t ruin the moment.

However when the music began to pick up again and Rapunzel danced into the center Sora’s blue eyes snapped to her. Rapunzel spun in a circle, her arms stretched out wide as she giggled. “Come on everyone!”

Sora grabbed Riku’s hand excitedly and began pulling him to the largely forming circle. “Come on! We’re getting ready for the end!”

Riku had no choice but to follow as he was tugged along to the center. Filling in beside him was Roxas and Lea, the two stumbling into each other with a fit of giggles. Across from them was Xion and Isa, the shorter of the two smiling bright enough for the both of them. Together they all followed as Sora led the circle march, everyone mimicking his movements like a wave.

The music continued to build till at last it ended with a whooping cry. The crowd surrounding the outskirts of the main square broke out into boisterous cheers and clapping. Even the dancers applauded in support of those that joined in.

While the band took a moment to rest the crowd of dancers dispersed. Rapunzel and Flynn took up a seat at the table Sora and the others decided to crash at. They were all breathing hard, faces flushed and smiles shared all around.

“I’m beat!” Lea exclaimed, wiping at the sweat collecting along his brow. “I feel like my feet are ready to pop off!”

There was a chorus of agreement from the group. Yet with an exaggerated sigh Lea stood. “Let’s get some drinks! Isa, Riku, come help me! The rest of you guys can sit and rest.”

Roxas snorted and smirked at the emerald-eyed man. “I thought you said your feet were going to pop off?”

“Oh they are. But I’ve got faith you’ll catch them from me the moment they make a run for it.” He punctuated his statement with a wink. It was with a satisfied smirk that Lea left with the other two after getting Roxas to turn an even darker shade of red.

Rapunzel let out a happy laugh and leaned against Flynn’s arm. “Aaah I had so much fun! I’m so glad you guys could make it!”

Sora grinned, “We’ve got some pretty good timing, huh?”

“Maybe it’s fate.” Flynn quirked a smile, tugging playfully on a strand of Rapunzel’s hair. “Gods know everything magical happens around you.”

She snorted and playfully shoved at his shoulder. Yet before Rapunzel could respond, she was interrupted by someone walking up to the table. It was a woman with short auburn hair and wearing a dusty brown tunic. She politely bowed her head towards Rapunzel, a sheepish smile in place.

“Pardon me, Princess. But my friends and I have a present to give to the King and Queen and were wondering if you could come with us to bring it out to them? I’m sure they’d appreciate it much more if you were the one to give it to them.”

Rapunzel blinked before smiling, “Oh! Sure, I can-.”

“Hey raps!”

Approaching them was another woman, though this one decked out in the armor of the royal guards. She removed her helmet, shaking out her hair before settling it against her hip. She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder at the way she just came. “The Queen sent me to get you. She says she’d like to talk to you about something real quick.”

“Oh! Ok Cassandra!” Rapunzel stood before hesitating. She glanced between the stranger and her lady-in-waiting. “Um well I suppose talking to mom can wait… Oh but I don’t want her to see the gift when I come back if it’s going to be a surprise!”

The three Keyblade wielders all shared a look before nodding to each other. Sora stood, setting a hand on Rapunzel’s arm. “We’ll go and bring it here for you while you talk with your mom.”

“Really? You’d be ok with that?” At Sora’s nod Rapunzel was quick to envelop him in a tight hug. “Ok! I’ll try and be quick!” She left a brief kiss to Flynn’s cheek before departing with Cassandra.

Leaning back in his chair, Flynn hummed at Sora, “Want me to come and help?”

Roxas was the one to wave him off, the blond following Xion’s example and rising from his chair. “You’re fine. Just watch the table for us and let the others know we’ll be back in a bit.”

“You got it.”

With that settled Sora turned a beaming smile onto the woman. He didn’t miss the scowl on her face that was quick to return to its previously shy smile. “Lead the way!” Sora happily said, pushing the woman’s odd expression to the back of his mind. If Roxas and Xion didn’t point out anything being odd with the look then he wouldn’t either. Maybe she was just disappointed it wasn’t the princess coming to give her hand and instead three no names.

With the three of them gone to follow the woman Flynn was left alone to watch the table. He wasn’t by himself for long though. About five minutes later Riku and the others returned with drinks in hand.

“Where’d everyone go?” Riku asked with a look around.

“Mmm Goldie went with Cassandra to go talk to her mom. Sora and the others went with this lady to go get a present for the King and Queen.”

“Altogether? How big is the gift that it needs four people to carry?” Isa frowned.

Flynn shrugged a shoulder and waved a hand dismissively. “They’ll be fine! They’re big kids, they can handle themselves.”

Flynn had a point. There wasn’t much that could do damage against a fully attentive Keyblade wielder. Maybe Heartless, but the chances of them showing up when there was so much bearers of light gathered into one spot was slim.

Despite this minor reassurance the worry only seemed to grow as time went on. After ten minutes Rapunzel had come back and the waiting grew to twenty minutes. By the thirty minute mark Lea was fidgeting in his seat like he had ants crawling all over him. Finally he smacked his hands down on the table and stood.

“I can’t take this anymore. There’s no way it’d take 30 minutes for four people to carry a gift when the lady previously asked only Rapunzel for help.”

As if they’d been waiting for someone to move first, everyone else around the table stood as well. “I agree with Lea. It’s too suspicious. Flynn, which direction did they go in?”

Isa’s question had Flynn taking up the lead. The group practically rushed from the central square out into the main market of the city. When there was still no sight of their missing friends they continued on to the city’s gates.

There they split up, Isa and Lea going with Rapunzel down to the docks. It wouldn’t do for her to be in danger too if something truly was amiss. That left Riku and Flynn rushing across the bridge and onto the mainland away from the island city. While Riku searched around the clearing for any sign of them Flynn took a small path off to the side and searched near the water’s edge.

It was several minutes of tense silence before Flynn shouted that he found something. Riku rushed to where he was, nearly tripping in the loose sand. Flynn was at the edge of the tree line, crouched down near a bush and grabbing something mostly hidden under the green foliage. The moment he held it up for the moon’s bright glow to illuminate, Riku felt his heart stop.

Clutched in Flynn’s hand was a tattered flower crown. The same crown that Xion had been wearing since Lea had put it on her head.


	8. Rage from the Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hop aboard the pain train.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: IMPORTANT: This chapter and the next hold a potential blood tw for those that need it. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and the rather "intense" situation. Also quick note that I lost my notes for the final chapter and so while it shouldn't hinder the schedule I have for posting it, I'm still a little bitter that I just can't find them :'D Oh well.

When Roxas gradually came to, the first thing he registered was his pounding headache and the faint sound of voices talking. It took another several moments of just lying there to finally make sense of the words.

“I can’t believe you!”

“It isn’t my fault! What was I going to do, say no?! It would’ve been even more suspicious!”

Roxas recognized the second voice, though barely. It was that woman that had led them to the city’s edge. That was where they were ambushed. Roxas vaguely remembered someone grabbing him from behind. While he had struggled he watched two other goons grab Xion and Sora. Roxas was the first to get a weird smelling bottle held under his nose and he was also the first to lose consciousness. It only made sense he’d be the first to wake.

“Oh lay off her, Tweely! Doris don’t do good under pressure.”

“Good luck telling that to the boss! ‘ _Oh sorry ma’am, I know you wanted us to kidnap the Princess and all, but we ended up getting her friends instead’_. You think that’s gonna fly? She’ll kill us herself for fucking this up!”

“She won’t and here’s why! These are the Princess’ friends, yeah? So the Princess wouldn’t want anything bad happening to them! Therefore we’ll still get the money if she wants em back!”

Roxas couldn’t hear the response to that, his consciousness waning. He bit back a curse, gritting his teeth and struggling to keep himself awake. He had to do something. Anything!

Attempting to use magic or summon his Keyblade did absolutely nothing. Looks like whatever they used to knock him out was hindering his magic. That didn’t look good for the future.

Groaning from behind Roxas had him stiffening in alarm. He noticed their captors falling silent as well. Then the other female’s voice, Tweely, let out a grunt. “The mix is wearing off. Give them another whiff. We need them under till Miss Merla can come back and give us the plan.”

“Got it.”

And just like that Roxas was forced to breath in that stench and his vision went dark once more.

///

“We shouldn’t be sitting around here waiting like worrying damsels!!” Lea shouted angrily, pointing vaguely towards the forest. “We should be out there with the search parties!”

Isa pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed in harshly. “And just what would that accomplish? What more could you find that they haven’t already?”

“I could-!”

“No, you can’t!” Isa snapped, leveling the angry Keyblade wielder with a sharp glare. “You don’t know the forest! You have more of a chance of getting lost than you do of finding a trail! Face it Lea, you’re just as useless as we are in this!”

Lea let out a frustrated yell, turning around and pulling harshly at his hair. Though he understood Isa had a point that didn’t make it any easier to deal with. Of course this wasn’t the first time Lea had demanded they go out there and try to find their friends. With every ticking hour he said what they were all thinking. That they should be out there doing **something**.

It’d been nearly 4 hours since Roxas, Xion, and Sora disappeared from the celebration. After Riku and Flynn met back up with Rapunzel, Lea, and Isa, they collectively rushed to the King and Queen in order to inform them of the situation. After that the King had issued out a search party while ushering everyone back to their homes. With no other place to go the trio were taken to the palace and given rooms to rest in. However they might as well not have been given a room since they couldn’t sleep a wink.

After the second hour of waiting with no change, Isa found his room barged into by both Riku and Lea. The three of them were all agitated and paced around the room, each dishing out potential theories as to where they were taken and who with. However since their only lead left much to be desired. Corona had a large forest, after all. They could be anywhere.

Done with his pacing, Lea sat down heavily on the only bed in the room and clutched at his head. He tapped his foot incessantly against the smooth tile and chewed harshly on his bottom lip. He looked like a wreck, though Isa and Riku were no better.

Isa looked disheveled and his face was twisted into a grim line. He’d frequently cross his arms over his chest before uncrossing them, only to cross them again. Isa leaned against the window and was mostly glaring out of it, only glancing inside the room to give a quick check up to how Riku and Lea were holding up. Yet as the wait time dragged on Isa knew it wasn’t getting good.

Out of the three of them, Riku looked like he was the most put together. Yet if one looked closer they’d see he was just as stressed as them. His nails were digging painful crescents into his palms even with his gloves on. Isa had his faint suspicions that Riku might be chewing the inside of his mouth if the way his jaw would clench was any indication. Hopefully he didn’t damage his cheek too badly.

The moment they heard rushed footsteps outside the door all three heads snapped up. Someone incessantly knocked on the door, the worried voice of Flynn on the other end. “Isa! You up? The guards found something!”

Instantly the door was wrenched open and Flynn was momentarily surprised at the three pairs of eyes boring into him demanding answers. Still, it wasn’t like he didn’t understand their concern.

“Good, you’re all here then. Come on, they’re in the throne room.”

With Flynn leading they had no worries of getting lost in the castle. And thankfully he sensed the urgency of the situation and chose to run most of the way. In the throne room was the King, the Queen, Rapunzel, and a guard that looked like he’d just run a mile. Clutched in his hand was a rolled up piece of parchment.

The King nodded to Riku and the others, flicking his eyes to the guard. “You may read now.”

“Yes, your majesty.” The guard dipped his head before unfurling the paper and clearing his throat. As he read the words scrawled on the paper the temperature in the room practically plummeted. “ _’We have taken three of the Princess’ friends and are keeping them captive in a secret location. If you wish for them to be returned alive, you will call off the search and leave five bags of gold by the forest’s edge within the hour. The longer you take to comply with these demands, the less chance of survival these three have. Do not keep us waiting_.’”

The King’s face was dark and he looked as if the demands had personally offended him. And perhaps they did.

“Cowards! They dare kidnap innocents just to get what they want!” His booming voice was ripe with anger.

“Let’s not forget who their original target was.” Riku spoke up, arms crossed over his chest. “The woman asked specifically for Rapunzel, meaning her group’s goal was to steal away the Princess first and foremost. Sora and the others just happened to get in the way.” He paused, making sure to look at said Princess with an earnest expression. “Rapunzel please understand that no one here is blaming you for this. If anything it’s a good thing that Sora decided to step in.”

Just from looking at Rapunzel’s red-rimmed eyes and concerned expression it was clear she didn’t fully believe Riku. Lea also felt the need to reassure her, so he offered a smile and spoke up. “Riku’s right. Sora, Xion, and Roxas have faced tougher things than a bunch of thugs wanting money.”

The King spared a glance at his daughter, brows furrowed in concern before he turned a hard look to the guard. “While that may be the case, we still can’t take these demands lightly. Expand the search through the woods! They couldn’t have gotten far!”

“Yes sir!”

It was with that said that everyone returned to their rooms. However the stillness in Isa’s room was interrupted not several moments later. Lea opened the door, staring confusedly at a shifty-looking Flynn.

“Quick, get inside!” Flynn ushered Lea back into the room and made sure the door was shut tight before gesturing for the other men in the room to gather around. “Look, I completely understand what you guys are feeling right now. And I know you guys want to be out there searching for them, however you don’t know the woods. But you’re in luck! Because I know those woods like the back of my hand! So here’s what we’re going to do.”

Flynn’s plan to sneak out of the palace was simple. Because a good portion of the guards had been sent into the forest to scour for signs of the missing Keyblade wielders the security of the castle wasn’t as tight as before. With Flynn’s help they managed to bypass the remaining guards and take a little boat towards the woods. They would’ve gone through the front gate but apparently the King had put the whole city on lockdown. It was by pure luck they weren’t caught, something Flynn seemed to run on in most situations.

Once they landed on the sandy bank of the mainland, Riku stood beside Isa and Lea while Flynn made sure the boat was secure. The three of them stared into the dense forest, watching flickering lights of search parties scattered through the shadows.

“Think they’re ok?” Lea asked, voice barely a whisper.

Riku clenched his hands, mouth set into a grim line. “I hope so.”

///

The next time Roxas woke up, he was propped against a wall leaning on Sora, Xion on the brunette’s other side. They all had their arms bound behind their back and their feet tied together, makeshift gags wrapped around their heads that could be easily shaken off.

Roxas peeled his eyes open and blinked heavily. Lanterns were lit in the room they were in, shedding enough light for him to make out where they were. It was a spacious main room with the only piece of furniture’s being a set of chairs surrounding a wooden table. There was a door leading to what Roxas assumed was a side room, the contents hidden behind the closed door. He had to wonder if these bandits were the original occupants or did they get rid of the cottage’s previous owners.

Beside him he felt Sora stirring, the brunette opening his eyes and squinting at his surroundings. Roxas nudged him, making eye contact before flicking his head towards the people sitting around the lone table. From what they could see, three people were there waiting in silence.

Suddenly the door leading to the side room opened, a woman stepping out and glancing over the few gathered around.

“Tweely isn’t back yet?” She asked.

“No boss. Think she got caught?” One of the two men answered.

The other man snorted, “Either that or she made off with the gold.”

“She wouldn’t dare.” Their boss spoke with such confidence it was hard not to believe her. Still, better safe than sorry. She flicked her head towards the remaining woman in the room, Doris. “Go check up on where Tweely should be stationed. Report back—“

Merla was interrupted by the front door opening and the missing member of their group slipping in. Tweely huffed, closing the door and grimacing at the group. “They haven’t called off the searching! I slipped the note where you said to put it and they found it, but that was almost 40 minutes ago! How long does it take to fill some bags with gold?”

Doris’ brows furrowed and she looked up to her boss. “Merla? What are we going to do?”

Merla seemed unconcerned by Tweely’s report. She sat down at the head of the table and propped her boots up. “What do you mean ‘ _what are we going to do’_? Exactly what we wrote. If the King isn’t going to listen…” Her eyes slid over towards her three captives. “Then we’re going to give them a reason to listen.”

Roxas glared directly at the woman, putting forth as much animosity as his stout body could hold. Beside him Sora was doing the same while acting as support for Xion. By this point she’d already woken up but her head was feeling groggy and her limbs like led. Still she was fully aware of what was going on and the predicament they found themselves in. More so when she attempted to use magic or summon her Keyblade and found herself unable to. The panic was starting to set in and there was nothing they could do.

“Rocco, Bernard, pick one of them and make it quick. We’ll dump the body where the search parties can find it. Try not to make too much of a mess.”

“Yes ma’am.” Both men stood, one brandishing a sword as they advanced on the trio.

Despite how they were still feeling dazed from whatever put them under, that didn’t stop the three from trying to escape their bindings. The constant wiggling and jerky movements dislodged their gags yet did nothing for the rope rendering them immobile.

Roxas spit out the remnants of the cloth and instantly began growling at the approaching danger. “Don’t you fucking dare touch us!”

“Stay back!” Sora barked.

Rocco and Bernard ignored them, bypassing the two boys altogether. Rocco reached for Xion, grabbing her by the hair and wrenching her away from Sora’s side.

Xion yelled in pain while the shouts of protests from Roxas and Sora increased. Roxas lurched forward and staggered onto his knees, teeth bared. “Let go of her!”

Bernard rolled his eyes at the display. “Shuddup!” He firmly planted a foot against Roxas’ chest and kicked him back.

With Bernard’s eyes on Roxas he was unable to stop Sora from lunging at the hand holding Xion’s head. Sharp canines dug into the skin of Rocco’s hand and latched on with force. Rocco let out a shriek and let go of Xion, yet Sora still clung.

“Fuck!! Get him off!!”

Bernard grabbed Sora by the hair and yanked furiously. Rocco’s cry of pain grew louder as teeth dug harder into his flesh. No matter how hard Bernard tugged or Rocco shook his hand, Sora refused to let go.

Only when Rocco kicked sharply at Sora’s ribs did he budge. Suddenly skin tore and hot blood spilled into Sora’s mouth just as he was finally ripped away. “Fuck!” With a harsh smack Sora was knocked down to the ground. For good measure Rocco kicked him in the gut with a weighted boot.

“Asshole!!!” Rocco spat, “If you wanted to die sooner you should’ve just said so! Damn!” He let out a string of curses, nursing his injured hand. “He fucking tore the skin!”

Bernard rolled his eyes, unperturbed by his companion’s injury. “Quit being a baby. It’s just a bite.”

“Easy for you to say. It isn’t your fucking hand! Give me that sword!” Rocco snatched away the sword and glared down at Sora. “You’re gonna pay for that, brat.”

The defiant glare Sora leveled on Rocco spoke a thousand words. He’s dealt with scarier men than him. He’s been to Hell and back, fought countless enemies that always tried to kill him in one way or another. These people didn’t scare Sora. He wouldn’t give them the satisfaction.

Making a statement, Sora spit out the bit of Rocco’s blood still in his mouth. He grinned in smug satisfaction when some of it managed to hit Rocco’s enraged face. Sora didn’t bend to Xehanort’s will, what made these people think he’d bend to theirs?

Even as the sword was raised Sora kept up his look of defiance. His actions might cost him his life but hopefully it’d buy Xion and Roxas enough time to get rescued. He’d rather it was him than any of his friends. Sadly he wasn’t the only one who thought that.

The moment a shadow flashed in front of him it was as if time slowed to a crawl. Blood sprayed from the open wound and splattered against the floor and those closest. Sora flinched when blood hit his face and watched in silent horror as Roxas hit the ground. He lay face down on the floor, body unmoving as blood began devouring the white of his clothes and spreading out like a blooming rose.

Everything was silent, Xion and Sora staring at Roxas’ limp body with their ears ringing and visible tremors wracking their bodies. Sora sucked in a shuddering breath, pushing himself on his knees towards Roxas and ignoring the puddle growing underneath his friend.

“Roxas…” He croaked, voice suddenly hoarse.

His mind was raging, body cold and blistering hot where Roxas’ blood had landed. He flopped over, smacking his chin against the floor and scraping it. Still he struggled to shuffle closer, voice growing frantic.

“Roxas!” Sora’s scream was heartbreaking, his eyes wide and overflowing with pain and tears.

Xion was pale, disbelief clouding her face before it was broken by a stray tear slipping down. Then like floodgates opening she began crying earnestly. “Roxas… **Roxas**!!”

From the table Merla’s voice drifted, her tone exasperated. “I told you not to make a mess. Take him outside before he bleeds all over the floor. Geez.”

Bernard chuckled, reaching down to grab Roxas. “Yes, ma’am.”

Xion let out a yell, shoving herself forward and falling down next to Sora. “Don’t touch him!” She screamed.

“Stop!!”

Both Xion and Sora’s faces were twisted in mounting anger. It was terrifying to see on the usually gentle faces. Their protests went ignored as Doris and Tweely came over to move them to the side room. Xion didn’t register being dragged away, nor did Sora. Their eyes were trained solely on Roxas. He wasn’t moving. They couldn’t see his face, was he still breathing? Did that single blow to the back kill him? There was so much blood. Too much.

When Roxas was carelessly grabbed the raging flames in Xion and Sora’s hearts suddenly turned cold in righteous fury. They shouted for Bernard and Rocco to put Roxas down, to leave him alone. The moment a sharp cry of pain ripped from Roxas’ mouth, that cold wrath exploded.

Sora and Xion screamed in fury, a cold gust of wind sweeping through and stealing all warmth from the cottage.


	9. Dream Come True

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An end to a wild ride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This chapter is a lot longer than the previous one! I lost my notes that I wrote months ago for this chapter so I had to rewrite 2/3 of it from scratch! But I'm kinda pleased with how it turned out? As the end to my first Kingdom Hearts fic, I want to say thank you to all the comments/kuddos I received. They've truly helped me and encouraged me to keep writing! I hope you continue to support me in the future and I also hope you look forward to the next fics I write. Currently I have two Kingdom Hearts fics intended for the future! I'll be posting little previews on my Patreon. Of course I won't begin writing those fics till I have more open space. But till then I wish you all well and thank you for reading :>

Lea froze mid-step, eyes widening. Three pairs of heads snapped towards the same direction and stared deep into the forest.

Flynn, the only one here unable to sense what just happened, looked at them in confusion. “What?”

His question either went ignored or it wasn’t heard. Lea exhaled shakily, “Did you feel that?”

“That was a powerful spike of darkness…” Isa frowned, “It felt like…”

Lea whipped his head around to stare at him. “No no, he’s long dead! Saw him float up into the sky like a firefly! There’s no way that’s him!”

“Who’s dead?!” Flynn looked between the three.

Clicking his tongue, Riku began heading towards where they sensed the increase of darkness. “We won’t figure out anything by just standing here.

He had a point. The others were left with no choice but to follow. They were all tense with apprehension so Isa’s warning for them to be careful wasn’t needed. The mounting dread reached a breaking point when they finally entered a shockingly familiar clearing.

“This is the cottage we found when we were lost,” Isa said with a frown.

With the moon casting light against the darkened clearing they could easily pick out the familiarity. However there were things that were different than the last time they’d seen it. For starters, the heavy shroud of darkness was coming from inside the cottage. And a more pressing matter was that one of the windows looked to be shattered. Collapsed several feet away was something resembling a person. It looked as if they’d been thrown from the window.

As the group drew closer they could hear soft groans coming from the body. They studied the woman and noticed she was covered in injuries. Her body was littered with cuts, probably from the glass. However those were just superficial scratches, the real eye catcher was the ring of bite marks on her calf. Crisscrossing the teeth marks and raking down her arms and sides were vicious claw marks. The wounds were still sluggishly oozing blood, almost like they’d been made somewhat recently.

Flynn, the closest of the four, hesitantly reached out before pushing away the hair blocking the woman’s face. He gasped, “That’s the women that led them away!!”

Riku’s face darkened and his hands clenched into fists. “This was the woman who took us to the city…”

A silent thought passed between the four men. They suddenly realized how easy it would’ve been to figure out the kidnapper’s location if one of them had stayed behind at the table with Flynn. They would’ve recognized the woman, they could’ve pointed the search parties towards the cottage. It was a wonder none of the guards had searched this area yet. Maybe they just didn’t get to this section of the woods.

Flynn pulled out some rope from his satchel and nodded his head towards the cottage, “Go inside and check out the place. I’ll tie her up and then come in after.”

With three sets of nods they made their way inside. The door opened with an ominous creek and a breeze of chilled air wafted out. Suppressing a shudder, they stepped over the threshold only to freeze in their tracks.

All the air left Lea’s lungs as he breathed out a shocked, “Holy…”

“Shit.” Riku finished.

Around them looked as if a very one-sided battle had been fought. Small amounts of blood were splattered around, an alarmingly large puddle near a corner of the room. Deep claw marks littered almost every surface and strewn about the room were broken bits of furniture. It wasn’t just chunks of wood knocked all over the room, but several people as well. The rest of the bandits most likely. They were all unconscious and suffering from wounds similar to the woman outside, minus the glass cuts.

Lea cursed, “What the Hell happened here?” He stepped over the remnants of an upturned table and didn’t hesitate to summon his Keyblade.

Riku and Isa followed suit, summoning their weapons as they cautiously moved around the room. Riku pressed his fingers to the nearest bandit’s throat, feeling for a pulse.

“Nothing good. Keep your guard up and fan out. Make sure they’re all still breathing while we look for signs of Xion and the others being here.”

By this point Flynn had entered and seen the destruction inside. He whistled, “It looks like the big bad wolf went to town here before going to grandma’s house!” He went over to inspect the large blood pool, noticing that there were smears that led towards the cottage’s side room. The door was cracked open only slightly, the shadows in the room making it impossible to see anything inside.

Flynn took a step towards the ajar door to try and get a better look when he froze. The moment he got close almost instantly a deep growling from the shadows broke out. Everyone tensed as Flynn cleared his throat, “I stand corrected. The big bad wolf is still here.”

Lea crept closer in order to shield Flynn in case something attacked.  His brows furrowed when he saw something like glowing red eyes peek from the shadows of the open door. They almost reminded him of a Heartless’ eyes. Just as he had that though, the growling broke out into a shriek and the thing suddenly lunged forward.

“Shit!”

There was a clash and sparks flew as something scraped against his Keyblade. Lea stumbled back from the unexpected attack and barely missed dodging another swipe of sharp claws. He leapt back and brandished his Keyblade defensively only to freeze when the moonlight caught on the shadowy figure.

“… Xion?”

Indeed it was Xion who was crouched in front of Lea. Only it wasn’t the Xion they were familiar with. She looked as if she was a new kind of Heartless. All the colour on her was washed away and replaced by an all-consuming black, almost like she’d been stained by ink. Wisps of dark shadows emanated from her body and dissipated in the air not a moment after. The only substantial colour to her form was the swirling white markings on her clothes and the threatening red glow of her eyes.

It was hard to tell if she even recognized Lea. She was staring at him impassively from the ground, body arched and ready to spring forward at a moment’s notice. In Lea’s moment of hesitation to study Xion he missed the other shadow darting at him from the open door.

“Lea!”

An attack on his side was barely blocked by Riku. Clawed hands were pushed away from making a swipe at Riku’s face. He knocked back his opponent and watched in horror as the other figure skidded back on clawed hands before ending in a crouch similar to Xion.

Riku lowered his Keyblade in apprehensive confusion, “Sora!”

Sora’s response was to hiss at Riku and charge at him for another attack. Xion darted from the other side with the aim to flank. The two were moving fast, rushing on all fours before leaping into the air.

Flickering like a waning flame, Sora and Xion disappeared. Not a moment later they reappeared, swiping down with their claws at Riku and Lea. Both attacks were blocked and the two were knocked back once again.

Isa rushed to their side, the three of them making sure to keep Flynn out of harm’s way. “What happened to them?” The blue haired man asked, brows drawn as he studied the two shadowy figures.

“Hell if I know. They look like Heartless!” Lea cursed, “You don’t think they are… Right?”

Riku shook his head, “Impossible. They’d have to lose their heart for that and if that happened then Xion would just turn into an empty Replica. And the last time Sora lost his heart he turned into an actual Heartless. Not… Whatever this is. This is something way different.”

“Well whatever it is, it’s freaking me out.”

Isa frowned for a moment before his eyes widened. “Wait. If they’re here, then where’s Roxas?”

At the mention of Roxas’ name both Sora and Xion perked up. Sora let out a chirping sound, turning around and scuttling on all fours back into the side room. Xion backed up till she was directly in front of the door, growling at the four men and threatening them to try and get near.

“I’m guessing he’s in there?” They all shared a look and Flynn visibly grimaced. “Look, I don’t want to freak you out but that huge blood pool has drag marks leading into the other room. So if he’s in there, it isn’t looking good.”

Lea cursed and tried to step towards the room but he was met with resistance from Xion. She snarled at him, darting forward and snapping her jaws, just barely missing Lea.

He stumbled backwards into Isa and Riku to avoid the warning bite. Forcing down a growl of frustration, Lea tried to plead with her, “Xion please! Roxas might be hurt! We need to get in there!”

She bared her teeth as if to say “ _not happening_ ”. One of the bandits near them shifted. Confused and pained muttering slipped from the woman. Xion jolted, her growl increasing and she looked ready to charge the semi-conscious woman and attack. However when soft groans came from inside the room she stiffened. Swiveling her head over her shoulder Xion tilted chuffed before heading back into the room.

Flynn gave them a nudge, already moving to the bandit gaining consciousness. “You guys go and check out the damage. I’ll get these guys tied up and go flag down some guards.”

Lea didn’t need to be told twice. He practically ran to the door, Isa and Riku hot on his heels. The air in Lea’s lungs were wrenched out and his Keyblade nearly slipped from his hands when he caught a glimpse of what lay in the room.

“Oh Gods, **Roxas** …!”

Laying in the middle of the room was Roxas. He was resting on his stomach, face turned to the side and a pillow crudely tucked under him. Over his back was a blanket stripped from the lone bed in the room. But even that didn’t do much in hiding the blood trail his body had made. Even the blanket had splotches of blood soaking the fabric from where it was pressed against his already stained clothes.

Crouched next to him were Xion and Sora, the latter tucking the blanket around Roxas and chirping softly. Roxas’ brows were scrunched up and he was sweating. He shuddered, another pained moan slipping out of him.

Lea jerked forward and the movement had Xion and Sora’s heads snapping up. They hissed at him, Sora crouching over Roxas’ body in a protective manner. Before anyone else could make a move Isa had grabbed Lea, yanking him back. The moment he was no longer stepping over the threshold of the side room the growling died down.

“Lea, calm down.”

Lea’s head snapped towards Isa and almost let out a growl of his own. “ **Calm down**?! How can you expect me to-?!”

“ **Lea**!” Isa’s grip on Lea’s arm tightened to the point it was beginning to hurt. “Xion and Sora are like this for a reason. I think they’re in this form to protect Roxas. And they’re going to protect him from anything that might be a threat.”

“Even us.” Riku frowned and after a moment he dissipated his Keyblade. Then he took a step into the room. As expected Xion and Sora began growling in warning. However instead of taking a step back or forward, Riku instead crouched down towards their level.

He inched forward, settling on his knees before the two. “Sora, Xion. You have to let us get to Roxas. He’s hurt. We need to get him back to Even.”

Xion growled and tensed, however she hesitated when Sora crawled over Roxas and began to approach Riku. He crouched down in front of the silver-haired man and tilted his head to the side. Sora sniffed at him, wisps of shadows coming off and brushing against Riku’s face. Somehow Riku managed to keep a straight face even when a clawed hand came up to touch his cheek.

Sora tilted his head and let out an inquisitive sound. Slowly Riku raised a hand and lightly cupped the one pressed against his cheek. Staring directly into Sora’s eyes, Riku tried to get across as much feeling as he could from look alone.

“Sora,” Riku squeezed the hand he was holding, “You guys are safe. It’s ok now.”

Riku’s words seemed to take a moment to register in Sora’s mind. His eyelids drooped for a moment before finally closing and his body slumping forward. With a whoosh the shadows were blown from his body and a normal looking Sora fell forward into Riku’s outstretched arms.

Almost like she was taking Sora’s transformation as a sign, Xion too let her eyes close and collapsed as the darkness was washed away from her body. The moment she fell to the ground both Isa and Lea leapt forward.

When Lea peeled back the blanket to get a better look at Roxas’ wound he let out a choked sound. “Oh Gods oh Gods…! There’s so much blood. Why is there blood?! Can Replica bodies bleed?” He wasn’t really expecting an answer. He pressed lightly against the wound and winced at Roxas’ pained whimper. He whispered an apology before casting a quick Cura on the blond. “I don’t know how good a Cura is going to work right now, but hopefully it helps enough till we get him to Even.”

Lea was beyond gentle as he slipped his arms around Roxas and gradually raised him from the ground. Roxas’ soft gasp of pain had Lea pausing, whispering more apologies and words of comfort.

“We’re gonna get you to Even, Roxy. He’ll make you all better.” Lea swallowed past the lump in his throat and adjusted the blond in his arms. With Isa’s help he was able to transfer Roxas onto his back. Isa made sure Roxas was being held securely before he dipped down and gently lifted Xion.

Riku adjusted Sora in his hold before nodding towards the other two. “Let’s hurry back. We don’t know how long Roxas has been injured.”

The three left the side room and ran into Flynn just as he was dragging the last bandit against the wall. He wiped the gathered sweat from his brow and worriedly looked at the three unconscious Keyblade Wielders.

“Are they ok? How’s Roxas?”

“Injured. I hopefully got Roxas stabilized, but we don’t know for sure. We’ve gotta take them all back to our friends, they’re more qualified to handle this.” Lea said in a rush, clearly eager to get going.

Flynn grimaced, “How long will that take? You sure our doctors can’t help?”

Lea hesitated, trying to figure out a way to explain that Roxas’ body was technically not a normal one. Thankfully Isa was quick to come to his rescue. “Both Xion and Roxas are unique cases. Like Rapunzel’s magic hair, they have bodies that are in their own way, magical. They require a specialist to examine them.”

Though it was clear he still had some questions Flynn understood that time was of the essence. He nodded and gestured towards the door. “Alright. You go and get them fixed up. I’ll handle things here and let everyone know that they were found. You’d better come back and update us when they’re fine!”

With promises to return the three quickly left the cottage and departed to their Gummi ship. Though they knew they shouldn’t really leave Sora’s ship behind they didn’t have time to waste. Riku promised he’d come back to fetch it when he wasn’t trying to blast through space towards Radiant Garden.

Lea, while he cradled Roxas in his arms, was panicking as he dialed Even on his Gummiphone. He cursed at the thing as it kept ringing. “Come on pick up!! Even I swear on King Mickey’s name if you don’t pick up I’m going to shove my foot so far up your ass you’re gonna be able to taste the bottom of my shoe. Pick up Even!!”

He let out a frustrated cry when the call went ignored. “I swear if this is a personal thing because I killed your Nobody, I’m going to be pissed!”

“Just call Ienzo! Even doesn’t answer when he’s lost in a project!” Maybe it was the lack of sleep that was making Isa far snappier than usual. Still, it was hard to be intimidated by his volatile glare when he was supporting Xion’s head so gently against his chest.

Thankfully Ienzo was better at answering than Lea. He was trying to pay attention to the phone while shoving away Demyx’ face from peeking over his shoulder.

“Ienzo!! We’ve got a situation!! We’re flying back to Radiant Garden now but we need you to get Even and three stretchers and meet us at the landing zone!” Lea said in a rush. He bit out a curse when Riku jerked the ship to the side. “Oi!! Drive more carefully!!”

“You try and dodge asteroids while at this speed!” Riku yelled back over his shoulder.

“ _Lea_!” Ienzo snapped his fingers in an attempt to get the redhead’s attention. “ _What do you mean by “a situation”? Why do you need Even?? Who’s hurt_???”

“Roxas is! Xion and Sora too, but mostly Roxas! He’s got this huge slice down his back and there’s so much blood and I’m freaking out right now!”

Ienzo’s brows furrowed and he turned to push Demyx. “ _Go and get Even please. And if you run into Aeleus or Dilan send them to come help us as well_!” To Lea he said, “ _Please remain calm and take some deep breaths! Is Roxas the only one with physical wounds_?”

“As far as we can tell, yeah!”

Ienzo nodded and set down his Gummiphone. Despite being able to only see the ceiling, Lea still heard the sounds of Ienzo moving around his room and shifting things. “ _Right. Is he still bleeding_?”

“I cast Cura on him and that helped stop the blood, but there’s so much on him I don’t know how much he lost.”

“ _So we’ll potentially need a transfusion bag… But Replicas are different than normal bodies… I’ll have to ask Even when he gets here_.” Ienzo’s mumbling trailed off as he got further from the phone. Then after a moment he called distantly, “ _How far are you from Radiant Garden_?”

Riku shouted, “At this speed about two minutes!”

The screen jostled as Ienzo picked up his phone again. He was staring off at something just beyond where the phone was positioned. “ _Alright we’ll meet you at the landing docks! Dilan please get one of the stretchers, you too Aeleus! Demyx come help me with the third one_!”

“ _What in the world did you drag me out of my office for? It’d better be important_!” Even’s voice came from the background.

“ _Even I will inform you on the way. Ah Lea I’m hanging up now! See you when you get here_!” And with that Ienzo dropped the call.

Lea chewed on his lip and stowed away his phone. Looking back at how Riku was piloting the ship, it was rather admirable how quickly he was weaving through the colourful void; especially when he had an unconscious brunette in his arms. But of the many things Riku excelled in, multitasking was one of them.

True to his word they landed in Radiant Garden just slightly over two minutes. The moment the door opened and the three were descending the landing pad, Demyx, Aeleus, and Dilan swept over and took their baggage.

Even, in the midst of checking over Xion, froze when he saw the gruesome scene that was Roxas’ back. He let out a cry, rushing to Roxas’ side as he was placed on the stretcher.

“What did you do to the Replica body?! Don’t you know how much care I put into making them?!”

Ienzo moved past, picking up one end of Roxas’ cot. “Not the time, Even. Grab the other side please.”

Despite his grumbling Even seemed to understand that time was of the essence. He took the other side and helped Ienzo carry Roxas in. Following after was Dilan and Aeleus carrying Xion’s cot, Riku and Isa carrying Sora’s.

Lea kept pace with Ienzo and Even, bombarding the two with incessant questions. “Are they going to be ok? How’s Roxas? His breathing was shallow on the ride here. Please tell me you guys can do something.”

Even clicked his tongue, “His clothes are covering the extent of the damage so it’s impossible to tell with just a look!”

“But what about blood loss? Roxas—he lost so much blood back there and if you need to transfuse blood I’ll offer mine!”

As they set the three inside what could only be considered a clinical office, Even gave Lea an exasperated look. “As if your blood would do any help. Roxas has a Replica body, remember? They may be a perfect **replica** of our bodies, but they’re made out of entirely different materials! Putting your blood in him would be like trying to replace a car’s fuel with water and expecting it to work! Not to mention the issue of blood types! Honestly did you miss primary school or something? Who in their right mind-?”

“ **Even** , not the time!” Ienzo snapped before he started shoving people from the room. “I apologize but everyone who is not in a lab coat needs to leave. We need to do a thorough checkup and tending to Roxas’ injury is our main priority. We can’t afford distractions! If his body is damaged beyond repair then we need to do an immediate transfer of his heart into another Replica body!”

Even drew the curtain separating Roxas’ bed from the rest of the clinic. He dragged over a black trunk and popped it open behind the curtain. “I’ll get started assessing the damage then,” He said just as the sound of fabric being cut was heard.

“Wait what? Even me too??” Demyx’s pout practically radiated from his tone.

Ienzo gave a particularly hard shove, dumping all four men out the door. “Especially you! Dilan, Aeleus, the door if you would!”

Being the only two to not need shoving to leave, both of the guards stood in front of the door after it was slammed close. From their stance it was clear they wouldn’t be budging anytime soon. At the very least Dilan looked somewhat apologetic. He offered a short “sorry” before subtly implying that Demyx should take them to the guest wing so they could rest.

Both Riku and Lea voiced some protest. They wanted to be there for when Ienzo and Even finished, after all. But all it took was Demyx bluntly saying “ _Dudes, for one you look ready to drop dead. And for two you guys smell like nothing in this world has any right to. Go bathe before you invent a new breed of darkness from your stink_ ” to get them to accept the offer.

While they each had an individual bath their clothes were also cleaned and ready for them by the time they got out. Wearing warm clothes and smelling fresh made the three of them feel a lot better. Though it didn’t last long as the events of the day finally caught up with them.

After getting a light snack to curb off their hunger, they all collected around a lounge, each of them flopped over a chair in some fashion. Isa and Riku were sharing one of the long chairs, Riku staring into space in a daze while Isa seemed to have passed out with his face pressed into the cushions and Riku’s bare feet propped atop his back.

Lea, slumped in his own chair, pushed his still dripping hair from his face. “When I had my dream… Roxas was going into a door of light and leaving me behind in the darkness. At first I thought it meant I was going to become a Nobody again or something like that… But then this happened and I think I was wrong. Maybe it isn’t that I’m going to fall to darkness again. Maybe the light Roxas was going to was…” He trailed off, rubbing at his face and trying hard to ignore the stinging behind his eyes.

“Lea,” Riku’s voice was as firm as his stare, “Don’t even finish that thought. Roxas will be fine. He’s strong, he’ll make it through this.”

“What even happened to them? Xion and Sora are limp noodles and Roxas looked like he lost a fight with a leopard. That was a lot of blood. More than I’ve seen before. I think…” Demyx frowned slightly as his eyes got a cloudy look, lost in forgotten memories for but a moment. The next time he blinked the look was gone and he seemed unaware of what he’d been trying to recall.

The look went unnoticed since no one was really looking at him and were instead melting in exhaustion. Lea sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Where do we even begin?”

“Uh at the beginning?”

Ignoring the answer to his rhetorical question, Lea sighed once more before he began the tale of when they departed Yen Sid’s tower and what led to now.

//

When they were finally allowed back in to the medical room it was during Even giving a rather intense lecture to the three bedridden patients. Most of his ire was directed towards Roxas and specifically his reckless actions.

Despite the small amount of bandages on Xion and Sora, they looked perfectly fine. Roxas, even when laying on his stomach, didn’t look as bad as before. His upper torso was wrapped in bandages with only a blanket offering him some shred of decency. But other than that and a few blooming bruises he looked just as fine as Xion and Sora. It was enough to coax a sigh of relief from the three men.

“I mean honestly! Your body may be a Replica’s but that doesn’t make it indestructible!! I made them to mimic people!! Of course they bleed! And of course an injury like that is going to cause some damage!! You’re lucky it was me who made your body and not some other Organization member that isn’t here!” Even angrily waved his clipboard at the blond. Apparently sometime during treatment they cleaned the blood from his body and hair so he wasn’t looking like a horror show.

Roxas scowled, failing in his attempt to glare at Even with his face squished against a pillow. “Ok! I heard you already!! You literally started lecturing me the moment I woke up!”

“And I’ll keep lecturing you if you ever damage yourself like that again! The same goes for you as well, Xion! Don’t pull any reckless stunts like this!” And with a righteous ‘hmp!’ Even turned up his nose and stomped out of the room, muttering the whole while about reckless idiots and not appreciating his work.

Ienzo offered a somewhat strained smile. He looked down at his clipboard, “Don’t mind Even. I promise he’s just worried about you all.”

“He’s not the only one.” Lea finally made himself known, nabbing a chair from who knows where and practically slamming it down on the floor next to Roxas’ bed. The blond flinched, making a point to look anywhere but at Lea’s piercing stare.

Riku rolled his eyes, dining to sit at the edge of Sora’s bed. “How are you guys feeling?”

Roxas snorted, “Like my fucking back was split open.” He yelped when Lea pinched his arm. “Hey!! Fucking injured party over here!!”

“Then don’t make jokes like that!!”

Xion bit back a sigh and slumped against her pillow. She offered a small smile, “I feel alright. A little dizzy but Sora assured me that’s normal.”

“Normal?”

This time Sora was the one to speak up. He nudged Riku with his foot from under the blanket, grinning when a hand came to rest on his ankle and squeeze it lightly. “Yeah! For entering what I call “ _Rage Form_ ”. First few times always leaves you feeling dizzy.”

He received a few curious looks from this admission. The only ones who seemed to already be aware of such a form was Xion and Roxas, though they were a “ _special case_ ”.

Isa, from where he stood leaned against the wall, was frowning in thought. “This… “ _Rage Form_ ”… It is similar to the form you took when you were reduced into your AntiForm. However while in that form you were consumed by darkness, in this form you were overcome with-.”

“Anger.” Xion blinked, looking down at her hands and flexing them unconsciously. “When Roxas got hurt… When they touched him and wouldn’t leave him alone… There was so much anger. I wanted them to stop hurting Roxas. I wanted them to leave us alone.”

Sora nodded, “Rage Form channels anger kind of like darkness, but in a way that I don’t lose myself to it. I’ve used Rage Form before. The first time wasn’t consciously but after that I grew used to it. Just ask Donald and Goofy, they’ve seen me in that form plenty of times. Though in that form I usually have a one-track mind which makes it difficult to reason with.”

“Fascinating.”

Everyone looked towards Ienzo who was scribbling furiously at his clipboard. He paused when he realized he’d spoken aloud. Blushing slightly he offered a sheepish smile, “Sorry, but this form sounds so interesting! I’d love to study it further. Ah… Although that begs the question. If Xion is also able to enter this form and Sora says he frequently entered it before then does that mean Roxas is also able to enter the form? Or for that matter, is anyone whose heart resided in Sora’s able to transform? Can Ventis turn?”

Lea clicked his tongue and waved a hand dismissively. “You can test your theories later! How bad were their injuries? Anything permanent?”

“Axel…” Roxas sighed.

Holding up a hand, Lea gave him a pointed glare. “You hush. I’m currently pretty mad right now.”

“You’re mad? I’m the one who got cut with a sword! I should be mad!”

“Yeah, well you didn’t see how you looked when we found you! Do you know how terrified I was that you’d die?!”

As the two divulged into heated bickering, both Riku and Isa decided to ignore them and instead turn their attention on Ienzo. Looking down at his clipboard and flipping through some of the papers, he tilted his head. “Well Even and I aren’t professional doctors, mind you. We’re scientists, not surgeons. But we did what we could. Sora has a few bruised ribs and a split lip. He doesn’t have any cut marks like Xion does, though if what he says is to be believed then I think that’s because he was more used to his Rage Form so he was able to dodge attacks easier. Thankfully Xion only has bruising on her arms and a few nicks from a sword, nothing too serious. Roxas of course suffered the heaviest injury. Even was able to repair his back and assured me that he should suffer no lasting damage. At the very least he may just get some scarring. Ah, he did have a ring of teeth marks on his ankle but those were extremely light. My guess is that either Xion or Sora tried dragging him while in Rage Form.”

“See!” Lea exclaimed, gesturing towards Ienzo while still glaring at Roxas. “You could’ve suffered irreparable damage! What would you have done if you weren’t able to walk? A Cura sure won’t fix that!”

“What did you want me to do?! Let them hurt Sora?! Xion?!”

“Of course not!”

“Then I did what I had to!”

Lea stood so abruptly from his seat that the legs screeched against the tiled floor. “You always do this!” He snapped. Lea’s anger was palpable, flames dancing along the edges of his shoulders. His clothes remained unaffected by the magically conjured flames, the fabric enchanted to survive the pyromaniac’s tendencies for the burning flower.

The room was silent as Lea planted his hands on the edge of the bed and loomed over the blond. “You always throw yourself into danger and sacrifice yourself for the sake of others!! You think you’re doing something good when it happens but you’re not always there to see the aftermath! Did you think that we wouldn’t miss you if you were gone?! Did you just forget how hard I fought to get you back?! If you think I’m just going to let you constantly put yourself in self-sacrificing situations then you’ve got another thing coming!”

Roxas’ hand snatched out and grabbed the front of Lea’s shirt, pulling him close enough to growl in his face. “You can’t control what I do, Axel.”

“That was never my idea! I’m just not gonna let you sacrifice yourself like this ever again.”

“Oh?” Roxas quirked a brow, “And just how are you going to do that?”

Lea smirked, “I’m just going to have to stick by your side to keep you from being so reckless.”

Roxas returned Lea’s smirk with one of his own. Then, in an act absolutely no one was anticipating, Roxas yanked Lea forward and promptly connected their lips in a searing kiss. The flames on Lea’s shoulders were instantly snuffed out, mirroring the shock the redhead was feeling.

Silence reigned supreme as everyone stared at the stupefied pyromaniac and the wincing blond. The angle Roxas was twisted in to meet Lea’s lips probably wasn’t comfortable for his back but still he persisted. Lea, in his state of shock, forgot to even close his eyes and was too focused on staring at Roxas during the kiss.

Sora blinked at the scene, vaguely wondering if they were even breathing. He looked to Riku, gesturing to the two. “Is anyone else confused how they went from yelling to kissing? Like what is this?”

Riku merely shrugged, unable to form a response that would satisfy the brunette. Out of courtesy for Roxas’ abrupt action, they all pointedly looked away from the kissing two. They only looked back at them when Roxas finally let go of Lea.

No longer being held forward, Lea fell back into his chair and stared in a daze at Roxas. The blond, though flushed in embarrassment, was grinning widely.

He laughed, “I look forward to it.”

Lea remained frozen in his seat, clearly still trying to process what happened. Isa, tired from the entire ordeal and not in the mood to deal with a braindead Lea, moved over and grabbed him by the arm. Lea was pliant, not even registering that he was being pulled out of the room.

“Since we’ve confirmed you three will be fine, we’ll leave you guys to rest. Lea can deal with this when he’s functioning again.”

And with that the two left the room. Ienzo was the next to leave after doing one last check up on the three and promising to return in a few hours. Finally it was just Riku being the only uninjured party of the group. He sighed through his nose, standing up after patting Sora’s leg.

Riku didn’t even manage to take one step away from the bed before Sora was shooting forward and grabbing his wrist. “You’re leaving?” He asked, blue eyes impossibly wide.

Feeling his heart soften, Riku smiled gently before taking Sora’s hand and holding it. “Yeah, but only for a while. You guys need sleep, you’ve been through a lot.”

“We need sleep? You look like you’re ready to pass out.”

Roxas’ unhelpful comment had Sora shooting him a glare. “We kept quiet while you and Axel had your moment, let me and Riku have ours!”

Riku snorted and barely managed to restrain his laughter. Still a few chuckles managed to slip past as he spoke. “Sora, sleep.”

“But-!”

He was cut off by the lightest brush of lips against his forehead. Sora was stunned from the action, though the kiss lingered long enough for him to quickly grasp what was happening. The smile that broke out across his face when Riku leaned back was the brightest one he’s ever had.

Riku’s smile was warmer than before, his eyes shining with the affection reserved solely for Sora. He lifted their clasped hands, kissing the back of Sora’s knuckles. “Sleep. We can talk when we don’t have an audience, ok?”

“Mmm,” Sora agreed with a dreamy smile.

He let Riku slip from his grasp, watching him leave the room with that dazed look. Even as the door closed he still continued grinning impossibly wide. Not even the pain from his bruised cheek could dampen his happiness.

Xion, having been silent for a long while, finally whistled and flopped down against the bed. She looked up at the ceiling, “Well that was unexpected.”

“What? The kidnapping or the kissing?” Roxas grinned when Xion rolled her eyes.

“Both.” She turned her head so she could look at Roxas. “Glad to see you finally worked out your feelings. Though you didn’t exactly tell him.”

Roxas shrugged, “I talk better with my actions. Less room for misunderstandings that way.”

Sora snickered and rolled onto his side, wincing slightly. “Riku and I don’t even need words to get our feelings across!”

Now it was Roxas’ turn to roll his eyes. “You’re the only one here who had a childhood where you could develop that kinda relationship. I literally popped into existence at 16.”

“On the bright side at least we skipped puberty.”

Xion had a point there. It was the little wins that count.

The trio fell silent after a while, each to their own thoughts. Though it didn’t take long for Roxas’ lips to quirk into a smug grin and his cheeks to darken with a prominent blush.

“Did you see Axel’s face, though?”

Sora blew a raspberry, “Did you really have to start arguing with him before kissing him though? What’s with that backwards buildup?”

“The tension’s hot.”

Both Sora and Xion let out sounds of protest, groaning as they turned their backs on the cot between them. Roxas’ laughter was obnoxiously loud over their distaste for his comment. His laughter stuttered out into a wheeze though when it put a strain on his aching body. Even being pumped full of numbing drugs couldn’t hinder all the pain.

Roxas sighed when he was done laughing, Xion sighing as well, followed by Sora. After a moment Xion hummed, rolling onto her back. “The trip was fun though. Could do with less kidnapping, but other than that I enjoyed myself.”

“Mmmm,” Roxas agreed, “We should do it again. The trip part, not the kidnapping.”

That got Sora to turn back around and face the other two cots. He grinned widely, “I know some other worlds we can go to that are a lot of fun!”

“We’ll have to take Riku, Lea, and Isa though! No more leaving them behind you two!”

Both Sora and Roxas rolled their eyes. They ran away the first time to avoid confronting Lea and Riku. Now that their initial issues were more or less solved, there wasn’t really a need for that. Still they let out duel sounds of agreement just to placate Xion.

Nodding her head in satisfaction, she fixated the boys with a grin of her own. “Shall we begin planning for the next adventure for the three musketeers?”

Roxas and Sora shared a look before they turned their attention back to Xion and nodded. “Yeah!” They cheered.

Xion grinned, sticking her arm out. Even though the cots were placed with enough room between them, they could still sort of reach each other if they stretched out. Roxas quickly got what she was trying to do, sticking both of his arms so he was splayed on his stomach like a starfish. Sora reached over on his end, wiggling his fingers till his palm settled atop of Roxas’.

“All for one,” The blond began, turning his head from side to side in order to flash his grin at his companions.

“ _And one for all!_ ”

**Author's Note:**

> Additional A/N: Subscribe to my Patreon to read chapters early! There's a link to my Patreon pinned on my twitter! For those who aren't interested in subscribing to my Patreon you can check the thread and follow the link to my Ko-Fi to support me there. https://twitter.com/CandiesNeon


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